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One of the reasons I survived as well as I did was my genetics. My mother and father both had very tough lives, and boy, were they survivors.

People often say that having a family makes you make safer choices. It's been the total opposite for me. It's really made me want to make bolder choices.

When you're your parents' one shot at a genetic legacy, you may get to attend all the best schools, wear all the best clothes and eat all the best foods - at least relative to children in multiple-sibling households. But you also wind up with an overweening sense of your own importance.

Coming from a large family makes you feel protected - you have friends and allies.

I have good genes in my family, so we'll see just how long I'll be around.

Knowing your genetic health risks will help you make better decisions.

I've been thinking about disowning some of my genes lately. I have a few healthy, happy, long-living optimists in my family tree - most of them fans of Christian Science founder Mary Baker Eddy, a major champion of positive thinking. But I've got plenty of ancestors who played out more tortured hands.

The family is inclusive of not just your genetic family, but the people that you meet along the way.

Blood relatives often have nothing to do with family, and similarly, family is about who you choose to make your life with.

The idea that the family is this locus of support but can also hold you back and keep you down makes for good drama.