If you ask me who my best friend is, I could give you a short list of the people who I consider family and my true best friends. They're people who I've crossed paths with and our paths ended up going in the same direction. But if you asked me who my first best friend was, well then I'd tell you my cousins. From the time I was born and up until now, my cousins have always been a constant point in my life. When people came and went, and the list of best friends changed, my cousins never changed. We all grew up with different lifestyles, but we always grew up together. We were in each other's quinceañeras, each other's weddings, and we celebrated birthdays together. No matter how much life changed for me, my cousins were always there for me.
My childhood was spent sleeping over at my aunts house with my cousins for my birthday or just because we wanted to and doing a million and one things together. I was one of the youngest cousins and the age gap was sometimes evident in the way our minds worked, but we were always there for each other. No matter what was going on in our lives, we never turned our backs on each other. We defended each other until our faces were red, we cheered for each other when one of the others accomplished something, we helped each other when we needed it the most, we were each other's best friends.
As we all got older, we all followed our own paths but we always came back together for laughs and to talk about what's going on in our own lives. When I decided to move away from California for college, I didn't get all the support I would have liked. My parents and friends were happy for me but there were always the Debbie Doubters that didn't support my decision to move away from home and make something of myself, but my cousins were one of the first ones to congratulate me and tell me to go out and be a #Boss. They rooted for me as I moved away and still continue to support me in all my crazy travels around the world. That's how we've always been. We pushed each other to do what we want and we supported each other when no one else would.
Like all families, we're not perfect, we all have our problems, but my cousins will always be my best friends the more I go through life. They aren't people I happened to meet and become instant friends with. They're people who I grew up with all my life and our paths always ran parallel to each other. They're the people I'll turn to for almost anything and I'll always know they've got my back. Because I'm one of the youngest, they always have some words of wisdom for me that maybe I don't always listen to but I know they just have my best interest at heart.
So to my primas, thank you for being my first best friends as I was growing up. Thank you for being my role models so I knew never to take anything less than what I deserved. Thank you for the constant support you give me as I follow your paths in becoming a #Boss. You've made my life a little more interesting as we all got older and you've made it so much better.
The best friends I've collected through the years will always be a big part of my life and I'll always consider them family, but my primas will always be the first.
