We All Eventually Become Adults

Kate and I just had dinner with my cousin Adam and his wife Bella. I'm the oldest cousin on my Dad's side, with Adam pulling in second, two and a half years my junior. All of the cousins on that side have always been close. The fact that my Dad, his two brothers, and my grand parents all ended up living within 30 or 40 miles of each other had a lot to do with that. Growing up we had frequent family gatherings, and all the cousins got to grow up together. Some of my fondest memories involve that whole group of people.

So it's really cool when those relationships make the jump from childhood to adulthood. Not that I'm a stranger to adulthood. I'm now closer to 40 than 30, which is a scary prospect. Even my youngest cousin is 18 or 19 or something like that (sorry Erik...I'm not good at keeping track of that sort of thing.) But I'm finding myself spending time with cousins on a more one-on-one basis lately, and as couples, which is really cool. That's what I'm trying to say. I'm getting to know my cousins more as people individually, and less as that nebulous group, "My Cousins."

Part of the reason I'm getting such a late start really getting to know Adam is distance. He and his wife have been gone from the East Coast for quite some time now, so we almost never get to see one another. And, at least in the past, when we did, it was at some large family gathering, where conversations tended to occur on a group level rather than individually. Which is why tonight was so great. Kate and I really got to know Adam and Bella individually, without the group dynamic interfering.

We've also been recently getting to know my cousin James and his wife Amy more. James is, I believe, the second youngest of the cousins, unless I'm forgetting someone. He was still just a tot when I was hitting early adulthood. I didn't really know him that well, beyond the fact that he apparently thought I and my fellow older cousins were freaking hilarious. We'd have James to the point of tears (of joy) sometimes. I got to know him more as he got older, of course, but only recently have we been able to really start a real friendship.

I think it's all great stuff. My cousins are some of my favorite people on the planet and I hope to never lose touch with them.

Young cousins

I love seeing cousins playing together for the first time. You hope that they will continue to be good friends for life. Of course they do live far away from each other, but the hope and the connection is strong.

On Kerri's last day we went over our cousin Amanda's house to catch up and for the kids to meet and play together. They started off on a good start, but our boys were hungry and tired which never ends well. They wanted to keep all the fun toys, so it was a struggle getting them out. They at least played nicely with their cousins for a bit. They were so cute all together. Here's are some pics of their playtime.