Every year when the fourth of July comes around, I can't help but have a smile on my face. This was one time in the year that all of my family gathered together. For many years, I would see my dad's side of the family for a picnic and then get in the car and drive three hours to my mom's side to watch fireworks. There are many things about the Fourth of July that made me happy but the best thing about it was seeing my cousins. Cousins are the first friends that many of us have and I'm lucky that I have a bunch of them.

Dear Cousins,

Thank you for being there! It was always reassuring to know that I had another kid to play with at family gatherings, especially around the Fourth of July. You were someone to go tubing with, make s'mores with, use sparklers with and someone to laugh with. I have so many amazing memories with all of you. I'm going to take a few trips down memory lane to thank you for some things!

You taught me that I can be myself. I was a strange child but you allowed me to be who I was and even embraced my strangeness. So thanks for not giving up on me and sticking with me through the rough years.

You taught me to be confident in who I was becoming by being yourself. I love seeing all of you confident in who you are and it makes me smile to see how you all turned out so unique and how you all have amazing things going for you. I love that you are your own individual and that you are accepting of all people. Even though I am one of the younger cousins on both sides of my family; I'm inspired by all of my cousins older and younger. I would like to hope that my younger cousins can look up me to just as much as I looked up to my older cousins.

I always looked forward to spending time with you and even if I couldn't always do the things you were doing because I was uncoordinated and younger, I still gave it a shot. Thanks for being patient.

Thanks for being in all of the pictures over the years with me. I know not everyone loves pictures but they are very important to me and thanks for being troopers and smiling through them all. It is so entertaining to go back and look at how much all of us have changed.

Even though we don't see each other as much as we used to and we are all almost adults with jobs, thank you for being a built in friend. I feel so thankful that I am able to text you or find you on Facebook and know that you guys will be there for me. I'm grateful that I have a strong connection to almost all of my cousins because without them I don't think I would have survived graduation parties, birthday parties, holidays and especially family reunion. I'm still trying to figure out who the lady who "last saw me when I was just a baby," so thanks for smiling and nodding through that encounter with me!

So today give a shout out to your cousins, we all need to be appreciated every once in awhile.