I have grown up with neighbors who invite their cousins for the holidays or birthdays. My cousins have always lived two thousand miles away, in another country, so it was not always convenient to invite them over for the weekend.

While they have tales of childhood games, hanging out at one another’s houses during rainstorms, and running into one another at school, I have tales of our most recent WhatsApp chat and memories from the last family meet-up a year ago. Though we live so far from one another, we keep in touch mainly via social media. I used to write them letters, but as I entered college and they became occupied with work and kids, we found social media to be more fluid.

When my parents and I visit, we all make new memories with every family beach trip, every visit to grandma’s, every holiday that we are in the same place. My cousins invite me to their game nights (apparently, they have those), sometimes we sit together at family events, and shower my brother and I with care and inclusivity as is the nature of my family. It is always interesting to learn more about my cousins and family members. Sometimes we reminisce together and swap stories. I have heard about the imaginative childhood games a group of my cousins were playing in another country while my brother and I played different ones, of the teachers that some of them shared, and experiences that come with living near extended family.

Of course, being around my cousins together is like hanging out with best friends who go way back, so I am then reminded that I was not there continuously for ten to fifteen years of these people’s lives. I’m left learning more about them during each of the occasional visits, and vice versa. Also, I used to think that we were more different than similar, but I am realizing just how much we have in common.

My cousins are a hilarious, casual, hard-working, supportive, strong-willed bunch, and I am grateful to have them.