Well, that is also possible. But by the next life, it is very
likely we do not recognise each other anymore. Same person, a
totally different story. So it is best not to be cling so much unto
relationships, and must practise hard so that we can be freed from
the samsaric cycles and not repeating everything again and
again.
http://www.jenchen.org.sg/vol7no1c.htm
...5 types of offspring
It is normal to expect kinship between parents and their children.
Loving parents and filial children are the basis for a warm and
harmonious relationship. However, there are exceptions to this
norm. According to Buddhist sutras, there are five types of
conditions under which people are born to their parents:
1. They are reborn into the family to pay back their indebtedness
to the parents. For example, the child is filial, obedient and
diligent in his studies or at work. Regardless of the financial
situation, he would provide for the needs of his parents.
2. They are here to seek the return of what their parents owed them
in the past. This might be due to the parents owing unsettled
matters or debts to the child incurred in their past lives. Thus,
not only does the child not bring fortune to the family this life,
but the parents have to spend a lot of money on him. For example,
the child may be sick very often thereby causing the parents to
incur a huge amount of medical expenses, or other situations where
the parents have to spend a lot of money on him and driving them to
financial difficulties. Some of them may even cause the family to
break-up or the death of family members. Some may become
incapacitated and cause the family to run into huge debts or even
bankruptcy. These types of children are reborn to their parents to
seek the return of their dues.
3. A child may be born into a family to return the benevolence that
his parents had accorded him in his past lives. In this lifetime,
everything is smooth sailing for the child and he is successful in
his studies and career to bring honour and pride to the family.
Hence, he is here to repay kindness of his parents.
4. They are here to seek revenge on their parents. Perhaps there
might be hostility between the two parties in their past lives. The
parents might have hit the person; insulted him, ill-treated him,
or treated him unfairly. He could not forgive and forget. For
example, he would beat up his parents, ill-treat them, or even to
take their lives in return for what they owed him in the past
lives. Hence, he is reborn into the family to seek revenge.
5. They merely borrow the mother's womb to be born into this world.
The great sages and virtuous men, monks and nuns, the Bodhisattva
path cultivators and the Buddha belong to this category.
If there is hostility between parents and their children, the
parents have to sincerely repent and perform meritorious deeds in
the name of the children. Parents should not bear hatred and anger
but to treat them with compassion and loving-kindness. Then, the
situation would slowly improve and the animosity would soon
dissolve....
We have uncountable past lives that every other person or being
that we see, has been our family member in one of our past lives
before. 