"The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together." -- Erma Bombeck
Today, I am thankful for my family, specifically, my cousins. I have taken a couple of vacation days from work. My husband and I will be taking a ride down to East Longmeadow, MA today to see my cousin, Scott. His sister, Laurie, is coming up from Toms River, NJ this afternoon and we'll all be rendezvousing there.
My grandmother had two sets of fraternal twins, the first being my aunt and my mother, Elaine and Eileen respectively. Elaine went on to have a son four months younger than my brother and a daughter 16 months younger than me. As a result, we grew up playing together since we were all so close in age. Through the years, we have stayed close, even when they both lived in New Jersey and my brother and I were both up in New England. Now, we are all adults (all in our 40's, except for Laurie, but her time is coming in 2013) and have built a friendship that is lasting and strong.
We share DNA, history and so much more. It's a lot of fun and I appreciate having them in my life.
Off to play!
"Cousins by blood – friends by choice." -- Darlene Shaw
This reminds me of my family. I have a group of cousins and we're all so close, having grown up together in NJ and being around the same age. Thanks for causing me to stop and appreciate them!
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