Several years ago I had a friend who got divorced. Her husband ended up marrying his brother's ex-wife. So his kids' aunt became their stepmom.

I'll leave out the details, unless you're curious.

Mine is my great uncle and great aunt, who married when he was traveling in Europe (she, a young Italian aristacrat, he a young college student at an agricultural college studying italian). He took her back to New Mexico to live when it was still a frontier. After four children, she couldn't take it anymore, divorced, then moved to New York, taking two children with her. Those two sided with my aunt, blaming my uncle, the other two sided with my uncle, blaming my aunt. The thing is, they wrote each other every day, still loved each other, but couldn't live in each other's world. One of the children in New York married an Englishman and moved to Britain and had children, but still, the fued between the children still smoldered.

In the 1970's, the children (my first cousins, once removed) tried to bring the family back together. Just as relations between everything started to thaw, my second cousin living in England wanted to visit the family farmhouse in New Mexico. She fell in love with my second cousin living in New Mexico, married him, had children, only to open the rift again.

KA

My friend "Gloria"'s mom was married and had two daughters. Then her husband died and she married his cousin and had three more daughters. Gloria was the youngest of those daughters. At the same time that Glory's mom was pregnant with her, Glory's oldest sister Faith, was also pregnant with her daughter Hannah. Hannah's father was her grandmother's husband who is also Faith's step father and Faith's 2nd cousin (I think?) -- So Faith and Glory's mom kicked her husband out and had to raise the three daughters she had with him along with the two she had with his cousin and Hannah who he fathered with her daughter Faith all with no husband/father for them. And as if it wasn't weird enough, Glory and Hannah her half-sister/niece/first-cousin­/2nd cousin once removed were raised as if they were twins.

Where's Ray Stevens when you need him?

Anyway, mine is shockingly conventional---my uncle Paul, the black sheep of his generation, married his first cousin. It was the third marriage for each of them.

I dated a single mom. She had two children. The children had different fathers. The fathers were brothers.

So the siblings were half-sibling, half-cousin.

Our relationship didn't last long.

Kal_Aline:

the children (my first cousins, once removed)

I'm so glad you didn't refer to them as your second cousins. As elementary as it is, so few people seem to know the difference. Kudos.

I'm gonna just say that there are people on the Fray who profess to be married and those relationships, sometimes, I wonder how that all works out.

IRL, I think the weirdest would be my great-aunt and great-uncle, who were cousins that married. They were well beyond the fertile years at that point, but it was apparent that he'd always had a thing for her. Need I mention that they were from the Ozarks? Hillbillies FTW!

Bracip:

My friend "Gloria"'s mom was married and had two daughters. Then her husband died and she married his cousin .... Hannah's father was her grandmother's husband who is also Faith's step father and Faith's 2nd cousin .... Glory and Hannah her half-sister/niece/first-cousin­/2nd cousin once removed ....

Dang Bracip, I'm gonna have to map this one to even come close to understanding it!

pooham:

Dang Bracip, I'm gonna have to map this one to even come close to understanding it!

Boy meets girl. We'll call her "Nancy". The have two daughters. One is named Faith. Boy dies. Boy's cousin (Sid) marries Nancy. Sid and Faith are first cousins once removed. Sid and Nancy have three daughters. One is named Gloria.

Faith and Gloria are simultaneously half-sisters and second cousins.

Sid impregnates Faith, who is his step-daughter/first cousin once removed. Faith and Nancy throw his nasty ass out the door. Faith's daughter is named Hannah.

Sid is Hannah's father, step-grandfather, and first cousin twice removed.

Faith is Hannah's mother and second cousin.

Gloria is Hannah's half-sister, half-aunt, and second cousin once removed.

Thank you Vegemighty. It's clearer. It still makes my brain hurt trying to absorb the last three lines.

Back in 93, I met a younger woman (18) and we started dating. We weren't exclusive at first, and after a while I suggested maybe we should take that step. But she couldn't see breaking up with her brother or father.

Are you an estate attorney? I did not learn relationships like first cousin once removed etc. until my Wills, Trusts, and Estate professor provided us with a chart to figure out for inheritance purposes.

Was the estate attorney question directed at me? Actually, I'm a chemist. It's just one of those things I happen to know. Not for any particularly interesting reason, fortunately.

My mother actually taught me those relationships - as while her immediate family was small, her Mother and Father had large families and they would live together months at a time during the depression. I would get confused who was who as aunt would name child after sister etc, so my mother used "Emily, your second cousin," great-aunt Emily, great-great aunt Emily as necessary. We didn't have any third cousins that we knew, although there may still be some family alive in Europe. Can't really tell because when everyone came over in the 1880's and 1908 they decided they were Americans and the old country was that - the old country. Of course it helped that all of the brothers and sisters came together, leaving only the aunts/uncles overseas.

haha i was like what he didnt say anything about black guys then couple moments and click! i love it!!