To most people, family is the one place that you can be yourself. Family are the people that always love you, always support you and never leave you behind. That being said, sometimes family are the best friends that are kind of obligated to stick around. In my case, our small town was full of family. Every time we turned around, there was someone we were related to, and walking down the hallways of the schools through the years ... there were always my cousins.
My family has always been a close one. We have always gone on vacation together, had yearly Easter egg hunts, and made it a point to keep up with each other’s lives. Growing up, family was everywhere, faith was everywhere, and cousins ... cousins were everywhere. I know I can’t possibly be the only one who had cousins and best friends all in one … this is for you, my childhood best friends — my cousins.
Hey Cuz(es),
When I think back on my childhood, there aren’t many memories that you aren’t in. We were together so often, the 17 grandchildren our grandparents have. We spent so many summers on family beach trips, at our grandparent’s house swimming like the fish we thought we were and running around like complete crazies playing some fantasy game we invented that week. Falls, winters, and springs were full of after school visits at our grandparents, our yearly New Year’s Eve celebration, family Christmases and weekend trips to the movies or out school clothes from Easter attire shopping. We specialized in driving each other crazy, in fighting like siblings and oddly enough, forming friendships.
Now, years later, being in college has shown me just how much of my life revolved around our little adventures. It’s funny, really, because the more stories I tell my friends here at school, the more I realize that just about every crazy, funny, laughable memory I had was spent with some or all of you. Being one of the oldest I’ve watched you all grow up, and sadly … we have all grown apart to a degree. We have one in college there, two in college there, a few in this high school and another over in that one … and nothing seems to be the same anymore.
Notice: I said seems to be.
I say it that way because when we’re together ... we’re still the same people. I don’t think I fully understood that until we were all finally together again last summer for our yearly beach trip. We were all congregated on the beach once again, our clan of twenty (and sometimes more) taking up nearly a quarter of the beach, laughing, singing and telling stories ... just like always.
In the end, I’m writing this to thank you for being my childhood best friends. Thank you for being my guaranteed guests at birthday parties, thank you for laughing at all of my bad jokes, and thank you for never taking me seriously when I tell you to leave me alone. Thank you for spending many rainy days playing Scrabble, Yahtzee and Monopoly. Thank you for spending hot summer nights swimming and fighting off the bats that always seemed to find us. Thank you for being my go-to text when I need to know anything going on in our hometown. Thank you for all the memories we’ve made, and thank you for actually having an awkward stage with me. Thank you for understanding our crazy family, thank you for having my back and most of all, thank you for loving me when I wasn’t very lovable ... and in my awkward stages.
Love You All,
Your Cousin
