I just found out that I'm a great-aunt
Seriously. According to the Mexican system, your siblings and your cousins children are your nieces/nephews. Due to my being the youngest of ten grandkids (the oldest is 41; I'm 24), I've actually been an aunt since the age of two, so this doesn't feel weird per se, but it just shouldn't have happened this soon. My niece is 20 and as of last summer was still living with her parents. She's not married, not that I really care about that, and I have no idea if she's still with the father of the kids. Oh, yeah; they were twins. Two boys. You never get more than a few bits of information at a time in my family, so I'll probably have to wait until I'm back in Chicago to find out more, but I'm thinking she's following her mother's pattern (she got pregnant at sixteen, as did one of her sisters). She's got a job as a beautician, at least, but considering how time consuming and competitive it is, I have no idea how she's going to manage that. She works with her mom, who does photo shoots, movies and is heavily involved in the music industry, so it's not a regular salon job. It's very intense. My cousin hardly ever gets time off. she had to bust her ass to get where she is and my niece got her job handed to her on a silver platter because of her mom's connections and now she just goes and has TWO kids. It doesn't surprise me. It really doesn't. That side of the family is notorious for getting pregnant at the worst times. I just really hoped that the pattern wouldn't repeat itself.