What do "family" and "partner" mean to you?

[brooksmoses]

The word "family", in the sense of "chosen family" (which may or may not include one's "blood family"), can mean a lot of different things to different people. Likewise, especially in the poly world but even in the world of standard-appearing monogamous relationships, "partner" (in the relationship sense, not the business sense) can mean a remarkable lot of things.

As a result of some recent miscommunications, I'm chewing over what these mean to me, and I'm feeling very curious: What do these words mean to you, if and when you use them for your relationships? Do they have implications about what sorts of things you can rely on someone for, or what they can rely on you for? Are there expectations of willingness to perform emotional labor, or physical labor, or provide resources? (In exceptional circumstances? As a normal pattern?) Are there expectations of where the relationship fits in daily life? Of there being particular emotions that tend to come from the relationship?

Comments

[rosefox]

*shrug* *handwave* I've pretty much moved away from using those terms other than as useful shorthand when talking with people outside the relationships. I just say "my people" or "my [name]". At some point several years ago, it stopped making any sense to me to distinguish between types of connection based on degree of life-entanglement, especially because we just don't have good single words or terms for my connections to the people who are important to me. So I choose to prioritize the people and the relationships over the vocabulary.