When I was about six or seven, all my siblings left me. One went to England, one got into the Army, and another got married, leavin me with a mother who drinks and a dad who doesn't care. Very recently I started going to a local church where I met a lot of new friends, but out of them all one is like another sibling. Someone I can go to for advice, talk to if I have an issue, and in general someone I can lean on when things get too stressful. I think of him as a brother, but I can't help feeling guilty when I talk about my actual siblings around him.
I'm not exactly sure as to why I'm posting this, or what I'm looking for in this thread, but I guess I just want to tell someone, even a bunch of people I've never met.

Are you feeling guilty because you feel like he's replacing them, or that you shouldn't burden him with your family issues?

I've had my fair share of abandonment issues, not with a sibling, but with friends. After awhile, I came to realize that none of it was about me. Those people left me for reasons of their own, completely outside of my control. There was nothing wrong with me. Those people needed to be replace, and that was what happened, eventually. If they're gone from your life, then you have every right to replace them.

Well it kinda feels like I'm throwing the fact he's not the only brother I have back in his face.

I've talked with my siblings, and they all have their own reasons. My brother went into the military because he felt he had to live up to my dad's legacy. My sister went to England because otherwise she wouldn't be able to see her husband for who knows how long. They're not gone from my life, but with how rarely we all interact it feels like it. Still, I'm torn between the brother I have now, or the siblings that I've had all my life.

>>3 You don't have to choose which one to keep. They're there for different reasons and I think he understands that you have your blood siblings. He's been there for you and helped you out, they're your family, they can coexist in your life.

Okay, thanks for helping me think this through. Most of the time I don't want to really consider it because it'll bring up to many ideas that are inviting/depressing or plain ridiculous. So, once again, thanks.