Some of us grow up with big, loud, crazy, families, while others find themselves as one of only a few kids sitting around the kids table on holidays. But regardless of the size of your family chances are that some of your favorite companions at one of the family parties are your cousins.

Some of your first best friends, who are stuck with you for life, even if they want to pawn off as the weird kid who always shows up on holidays, but can’t because you share the same last name. They’ve seen you or you’ve watched them grow from the cute little infant, to the super cool middle schooler, to college, and beyond, and they’ve stuck by through it all. So this being said, we have a lot to thank our cousins for.

Thanks for letting me follow you around as little kid, and even a big kid, enamored by all the cool things that you and your friends did at your birthday parties. I now realize that I was probably the biggest pain in the ass, and that I never quite caught on when you said “Hey there’s some cool toys over there”. Thanks for letting me feel like I had that cool older brother or sister that I never actually had.

Thanks for letting me think that as I got older I became that cool older cousin that you all wanted to become. Thanks for letting me boss you around and tell you that there were some cool things to do over there, as I continued to try and do the “cool” thing over here. I now realize I wasn’t so cool and the toys over there were probably way more fun anyway.

Thanks for being my first test run at babysitting. No I promise I didn’t drop you on your head or forget about you for hours, but let’s say you helped me work out all the kinks. I won’t hold anything against you if you don’t hold anything against me, I mean hey you did throw up on me. Thanks for showing me some tough love and making fun of me at the kids table while none of our parents were around but defending me to no end when a real issue came up.

As much as I never loved being the butt of all your jokes, I know I could and always can count on you as someone to confide in and offer up a piece of advice. Thanks for creating childhood memories that I won’t soon forget, even if they are as silly as one of us getting caught up in every wave that hit us on the beach while on the family vacation, or sitting up laughing until stomachs hurt at 2am. Most importantly thanks for being my first and forever best friends.

Thanks for putting up with all my shenanigans throughout the years, and for even being a part of some of them. Thanks for being the friend I want to turn to when everyone else just isn’t you. Yes there will always be family drama, and probably days we can’t stand each other but at the end of the day I’m lucky enough to call my cousins some of my best friends and I’m so thankful for that.