When I left my family to come to college, I was ill-equipped, immature and desperately unhappy. I had spent so much time hating myself, hating my friends, hating my few known relatives, that I was entirely unprepared to be loved by anyone. I have lost so much closeness with some people who have been very important in my life. In most cases, but not all, this loss is dreadful to me and causes much sadness. People have different ways of accumulating family if they weren't born into one that offers what they need.
Some people marry into families, others create families with their closer friends.
I would like to think that I have done the latter, and perhaps I have. Even in this acquired family, I still appear as something of a black sheep. I rarely enjoy being alone. This is not to say that I cannot be self-sufficient. I can support myself, keep myself alive, get to work every day and manage my own affairs.