COUSIN TO COUSIN WE'LL ALWAYS BE, SPECIAL FRIENDS FROM THE SAME FAMILY TREE............ Anonymous

I am one of those lucky people who come from a big family. My immediate family meaning brothers and sisters is not so big, but then again I certainly wouldn’t say 2 brothers and a sister is a small family. But I certainly have a lot of cousins. I also consider myself lucky to be very close to all of them and I am blessed to be able to call them friends. And with each one, I share a close and very different relationship from the next. The reason for this I’m sure is our parents were close. Sisters, Brothers and Cousins among themselves, they were friends. So growing up, we had the pleasure of spending childhood days amongst each other’s company.

We can pick our friends but we cannot pick our family as the old saying goes. And how lucky am I that I chose to pick my cousins as some of my closest friends.

My fondest memories are big family Sunday dinners, or lazy summer days when we could “sleep over”. I remember trying to sit in on our parents conversations, because there was so much laughter amongst them, we all wanted in on the fun. But we were always shushed away and encouraged to enjoy the company of each other while time permitted. I remember those days in our swimming pools, playing games. My brother Paul being the favorite because he was usually the only boy among all the girl cousins until cousin Philip showed up. The other "boy" cousins still in diapers. Uncles and aunts at the barbecue grill always cooking something up alongside my parents. There were the “older cousins” who I couldn’t wait to be like. I remember asking my mother when I was going to be able to wear a bra like Debbie! And then there were the younger cousins who were always trying to see what we were up to as we locked our bedroom doors, played our music and talked about what we thought was cool.

My cousin Linda made me listen to “Ride Captain Ride” over and over again whenever I came to visit. To this day that song puts a smile on my face as I think of us riding up and down her street on our bikes with the banana seats and the fringe flying in the wind off the handle bars. We were so cool!

I also remember Peggy and me wanting to be “Go Go” dancers in cages at one of our parent’s basement parties! Oh the memories of being children of children in the 60’s.

Never the less, we had each other, through the fist fights, the bloody noses, the laughter and the tears. We had one another. Yes, Susie and I did have a few fist fights and Patty and I will always smile at the name "Sam Caramana".

Now as I gracefully mature in age, (sounds better than getting old) I still have that wonderful relationship with all my cousins. Our laughter is about different things now, like how I brushed my teeth with "Icy Hot" because it looked just like a tube of Crest to my failing eyesight! Or how we found a place that could actually make a strapless bra that will hold up our breasts! But my life is all the richer as we chat about our children. We still dream and desire about our future in the midst of reminisces about our past. We bask in each other’s successes, lend an ear or a shoulder to cry on if need be. And yes, we still fight and bicker about silly things.

But we are family and will always be there to hold each others hands and hold each other up. I thank God everyday for my cousins.