Most of you are probably only reading this because you thought that the title was some sort of typo. In fact, it’s not a typo at all, you read it correctly. It says “double cousins.” To me this is completely normal and something that I have grown up with. I quickly began to realize how uncommon this was when I tried to start explaining my family tree to kids at school.
So here it goes, I have three cousins and our dads are brothers and our moms are sisters, therefore “double cousins.” And no, for the thousandth time it is not incest. Having double cousins has been one of the coolest parts of growing up and I really can’t imagine it any other way. Having double cousins means that we have all of the same family: The same grandparents, the same aunts, same uncles, same regular cousins. Baffling, I know.
For me, one of my “double cousins” is two years older than me and essentially this meant that I was born with an automatic best friend. Basically she’s the closest thing I will ever have to a sister without having an actual sister. We share the same genes, the same family, and are definitely closer than most cousins. Growing up, every family function that I was at she was right by my side. We came as a package.
Typically with cousins, you have that one that you’re really close with on your mom’s side, but when there’s a family function on your dad’s side you have to find another cousin to cling to. I never experienced the awkwardness of being forced to socialize with those cousins from some random state that you only see during Christmas time because she was always there.
Because we share a larger gene pool than your average cousins, we look more alike than your average cousins as well. Many of our younger years were spent explaining to strangers that we weren’t twins or even sisters for that matter, but “double cousins.” I’ve gotta say, it was understandable, we looked pretty similar for most of our elementary days.
Having all of the same family allows us to catch up on all of the big news, not just on one side, but both. Whether someone’s pregnant, someone’s engaged, someone broke up with someone else, someone’s moving across the country, whatever crazy thing that’s happening in our family, she’s the first person I gossip with.
In my opinion, this has been a luxury. Living a distance from her, growing up made the times that we did get to see each other more fun. Granted, we still have our fair share of fights, but nothing like if we were actual sisters. Typically when we get to see each other it’s just about the most exciting thing since sliced bread.
To me, having "double cousins" was the way that every family was supposed to be. Eventually I began to realize that my family was unique. Growing up I just thought it was cool that we were so close, and now as I get older I appreciate having “double cousins” so much more. I truly don’t know what it would’ve been like to grow up any other way and looking back on it now, I wouldn't change a thing.
