An aunt, and never even knew about it until lately.

[Chez Daja]

So yeah.

I found out lately that I have half sisters and a brother.

They're all in their thirties, which makes them all far older than me, and I never knew about them until late last year.

Then came the shock.

I'm an aunt to ten kids.

I'd always dreamt of being an aunt; holding little children in my arms... and then being the jazzy, crazy aunt they could come to if they ever needed anything.

It's great news; but how am I meant to introduce myself? "Hi, I'm your aunt. You knew I existed, but I didn't know you existed. Oh, and did I mention that one of you is actually older than me?"

Yep, that's right. One of my nephews is a year and a bit older than I am.

Trust me, if you're shocked, you couldn't believe how shocked I was.

I was an aunt before I was born. o_o ...

So yeah, crazy, right?

I may be meeting the kids next weekend for the first time... Apparently, they're dying to meet me.

So -- has anyone else discovered something crazy about their family that you went years and years without knowing?

[Flash]

Ok I don't know how to say this but here it goes.

My grandma and grandpa have been devorced for a long time and a few years ago my grandpa got married again to some one like 30 years younger than him and had a kid so now I have like a three year old aunt and I'm 15.He doesn't live in the U.S any more.

[Helter Skelter]

A year or two ago, my half cousin Jennifer in Miami had a baby boy of whom I was never informed. I only found out when she tracked me down on Myspace and we talked a bit.

I also have a cousin in Dumfries, Scotland who moved to France, dated a man, and they had a baby. I haven't heard from them since the little boy was a year old.

Erm, I can't really think of anything else. The only real phenomenon here is that my eight Dumfries cousins are from two parents. Who were obviously very attracted to each other in the 70s, 80s and 90s. Yikes.

EDIT - Oh, and I have another cousin, Lauren, who lives in Greenock, not too far from here. She has a daughter named Luci, and I didn't know about that for ages.

No one seems to be very enthusiastic about telling me when people are born. I haven't seen Lauren in well over 12 years, and she only lives up the road. I see my American cousins more often than my Scottish ones.

[Fishie]

You're not the only one Chez, I have 3 half-brothers and 2 half-sisters. From oldest to youngest my sister Angela is 38, my sister Ilene is 37, my brother Andrew is 35, my brother Adam is 33, and my brother Rudy is 29.

I knew though they were older then me when I was younger. They are my dad's kids from a previous marriage and I haven't met all of them but I don't see them as my half brothers and sisters. To me, they are my whole and not half. When my dad dies, who am I gonna have for support? I'll have them and some of my nieces and nephews are older then me and its weird. Really weird, but they are my nieces and newphews and I don't see them different.

I'm ranting now. I'm sorry. Um...a something I found out a few months ago was my cousin is gay. He came out, but I had a feeling he was. He plucks his eyebrows, shaves his legs, get his hair highlights so it wasn't much of a surprise. My family's religious and some of them are mad at him, but hey he's my cousin. I'm not gonna diss him because he's gay. He's still my cousin no matter what.

[Govinda]

I have no idea how many baby cousins I have in a hole on the map referred to locally as Kilbirnie. My cousins out there breed like eccie'd rabbits, and I have never taken the time to track how many offspring they've produced. 'Get up the duff, the Cooncil huvtae gie ye a flat ae yer aen, ken? Long as yer a'yr 16.' And so they all do.

Leona's 19, and I know she's got two kids. I've met her only a few times. I don't know how many more the 13 others have since produced. I don't tend to speak to my relatives from that part of the world.

I'm sure your new family will be fine with meeting you, Chez. They'll be just as excited, and remember, they'll be just as nervous too. What are they meant to say to an aunt they've never met before? You'll be fine. I'm happy that you've found out, and now have a whole new branch of your family to learn about. Just pray that they're not like my wilfully unknown family.