Coming from a big family, it’s understandable that I am outnumbered by my cousins, in particular, the little ones. I have seven little ones, not including the three-going-on-four babies that were just born. There is an age gap of about ten years between most of us, but that doesn’t stop us from having fun. These kids give me life and make family events more excitable. Here are fifteen reasons why these little rascals have a special place in my heart.
1. Wherever I go, they go!
If I want to go to the park, they go to the park. If I run to grab something from my car, you better believe they will be right behind me when I turn around.
2. They face their fears just to be around me.
Most of my cousins are already pretty brave, but sometimes they will take a risk just to be around me more. Whenever we go to amusement parks, one of my cousins wants to try out new coasters, but she always wants me to go with her. Now she’s an adrenaline junkie like me, and we ride rides like the Looper and Roundup at Knoebels.
3. Their smiles give me a reason to smile.
You can never be anything but happy when you see these faces.
4. They are adventurous.
Sometimes they put the fear of God in me when I watch them at the park, jumping off swings that are fifteen feet in the air or hanging from their pinkie toes on the monkey bars. These kids are pretty brave, and Lord knows it gives me a heart attack watching them sometimes.
5. They’re never run low on gas.
Even at the age of twenty, I can hardly keep up with them. Almost all of them are involved in activities, and during the weekends, they are always jumping one event to another. I can barely get out of bed to go to class. Kudos for all that energy.
6. Whatever I do, they think they can do better.
I can’t do anything without it becoming a challenge in my family. If I do a backflip in the pool, someone has to try and out do me.
7. We make contests out of everything.
Piggybacking off of that last thought, it all becomes a contest in the end.
8. Some of them are just plain sassy.
One, in particular, has quite the attitude, and she’s the second shortest of the group, the shortest being the three-year-old. She is the sassiest of the group and puts me to shame.
9. They’re silly!
There is no taking anything seriously with this group! Trying to take a picture can find itself to pretty difficult sometimes, but, hey, I can’t complain.
10. They know when I’m upset and will do anything to make it better.
Kids seem to be really talented when it comes to reading minds and emotions, especially my cousins. They know when I am feeling blue, and they will try and try again to make me happy. They really are relentless, but I have to say, when they are around, it doesn’t take long for that frown to be flipped upside down.
11. We get really competitive during board game nights...
Every so often, my aunt comes over with her three kids. The moms sit in the living room, drinking coffee, and talking about nearly any subject you could think of, while the girls and I go play board games. It is always something different with us: Scattergories, Clue, Boggle, etc. Things get pretty wild during board game night.
12. And video games too!
And while the girls take up the top half of the house, my brother and their little brothers play video games in the basement. I think they are more competitive than we are because you can hear them all the way upstairs.
13. But in the end, we also feel just as good cuddling together watching a movie.
Sometimes after playing a bunch of strategy games, we get pretty exhausted, so sometimes we’d just search around for a movie and cuddle together under five layers of blankets… and of course, we had plenty of snacks too.
14. They keep the holidays jumping.
The holidays… a crazy time within the year where decorations are hung and food is frantically being made while balancing out the rest of your life, but these kids keep the energy going during the holidays. This past Christmas, two of my girls came over, and we strung popcorn and cranberries for the tree, even though half the time, we couldn’t stop eating the popcorn.
15. They look up to me.
Sometimes in life, we look at ourselves and wonder, “what happened?” These kids, however, don’t look at me that way. They look at me and smile. One of my cousins even wrote a paper for her class about who she looked up to and why. She wrote about how proud she is that I graduated high school with honors, went to college, and continued doing color guard. Whenever I start feeling bad about myself, I just think back to that day when I received a text about.
I love my cousins. When life gets hard, I can always look back to them to get a good laugh. The hardships of life vanish when I am around them. Things are so simple with them, and it’s such a relief.
