I go to a pretty affluent college. A lot of my classmates have really nice homes (or two or three), drive expensive cars, and spend their summers shopping and sailing rather than working like myself to offset tuition. I remember before Move-In Day, my dad tried to warn me. He said I’m going to encounter two types of kids; ones like myself, and ones who come from the type of money and privilege I hadn’t ever seen before, many spoiled, rich and selfish kids, the ones who have everything handed to them and have done nothing to deserve it.

But the truth is, I’m spoiled, rich and selfish too. As I left my week long trip to San Diego with my sister where we stayed with and were doted on by our cousins, it hit me: I’m spoiled too. An incredible vacation, where we were able to not only explore a part of the country (and Mexico!) where we’ve never been before, but we got to do it with our hilarious cousins. Sure, we had to take the red eye home and landed in Boston at 6 a.m., but we were doing it to make it back for another cousin’s college graduation party. And at this graduation party, I was able to catch up with family members I hadn’t seen in months, meet one of their boyfriends, and spend time with my grandparents (both over 80, married for 61 years in July).

In the midst of the exhaustion I was inevitably experiencing, the vision appeared to me like in a Biblical story: these are my riches. These small moments where your younger cousin enthusiastically tells you every detail about her first goal in her lacrosse game or your grandpa tells you he’s proud about what a great year you had at school. To see so many people take time out their busy weekend to all come together and celebrate an awesome accomplishment is incredible.

But part of what makes me spoiled and rich is that these moments are not limited to formal family gatherings. In fact, I live very close (almost too close) to my grandparents and most of my cousins. When I want to take my dog on a walk, someone’s always 5 minutes away. And when I need an impromptu coffee run or sushi, I know I’ll always have a taker.

I grew up with these people. Not just the “take a picture every Christmas and Easter” grow up, but the go to school together, hang out on the weekends, and everyday in the summer kind of grow up. Someone once told me that it seems like my cousins are really more like my siblings and I just can’t help but think how awesome that is. There’s no one else I’d rather help me get ready for school dances, spend childhood days on bike rides and at the pool, or stand strong next to me when we lose one of our own. These are my people.

And that’s why I call myself selfish. These are my people. Just like my friends get territorial over who drives their Mercedes, I’m protective over who comes near my family. I don’t want to share them. I know I’m lucky, because it’s not just the kids in impoverished countries who live without the luxury of family, but its my rich classmates too. To the ones who were raised by their au pairs instead of their Nanas, the kids who dread seeing their cousins on holidays, the girls who got their own bedrooms and didn’t get the pain pleasure of sharing one with their sisters, I say I’m sorry.

Some of us are just a little more spoiled than others.