It's a pleasure to meet you, Sara. Well. E-meet you at least. I'm used to it, you're right.
Let's see, I can answer to the best of my ability. Relationships tend to work the way you want them to work, you can hold on to them or try for something new, I guess... Dad came here first, mom followed up a month or so later. Soren and I came through at virtually the same time, though my wife came here before either of us by a couple months and we all knew each other since we were kids, my ancestor and his partner arrived a week or two apart... It tends to work like that for my family. I don't know about anybody else, though. Personal experience doesn't technically count for the entire data field, I'll have to look into that for you.
You're assuming that your new life is something that you have to continue in, I guess. That's not the case. You can respectfully decline your new life's position and work with what you've got to get where you need or want to go with it. A lot of people decide to go back into their own professions instead of sticking with what their replacees do. I replaced a baby, for example, but with a little clever work on my friends' parts, and the knowledge I actually have, I managed to get back into the swing of things and I'm currently back in university. Well, I just transferred and I'm still unsure as to what I'm doing with it, but that's me, not the world's fault.
I feel as if I'm forgetting something. That's what I get when I'm without my coffee. I'm half asleep. I'll try to be more lucid next go round.