Feeling Thankful

Natalya has been talking a lot about her cousins and how excited she is to see them next month. So I've been sharing childhood stories with her (edited versions of course!) about my cousins and me. My brother and I had great relationships with all of our cousins. However, we had particularly close relationships with the cousins on my mom’s side of the family. We all lived within 20 minutes of each other and were close in age as well, so we were together a lot.

my brother and me with our cousins and grandparents

Thanksgiving day with my cousins was always a blast. We spent a lot of time picking on the youngest member of our group: April Melinda (sorry April)! Nothing delighted us more than agitating April to the point where she ran from the kids’s table to the adult’s table and tattled on us -- which was when the five of us collectively shrugged our shoulders and claimed complete innocence.

There were many other great bonding moments growing up with my cousins: like the time we thought it would be a good idea to turn off all of the lights in the basement and throw stuff at each other in the dark. Someone got hit with a coffee can and ended up with a nasty head wound. Our first response to someone getting hurt was strategically planning what we were going to tell our parents. It was one for all and all for one.

I also remember the creation of the boogie step. I'll spare you the disgusting details but at some point we decided that the second to the last basement step at each household was the boogie step. We were forbidden to step on it. To this day, when I’m going down the basement steps at my folk’s house I skip the second to the last step from the bottom.

When my Grandmother passed away I fully comprehended the bond that my cousins and I shared. I couldn't have made it through the grieving and loss without the support of my cousins. I'll never forget how I felt when the six of us served as pall bearers and carried our Grandma's coffin at her funeral. Our parents were a little concerned about us having this responsibility given the loss we were suffering. But we wanted to do it — it just felt right somehow. On that cold Michigan January day, sharing the experience of losing our Grandma, I realized just how incredibly special the bond with my cousins was.

And now I am witnessing my daughter’s growing relationship with her cousins. She absolutely adores my brother’s boys. They accept each other fully and they love being together. It warms my heart to know that Natalaya's life will hold the same experience as mine: a strong bond with her cousins.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! And especially to my cousins: Rodney, Vicki, Kelly, and April — I’m so thankful to have grown up with you and for the bond that we share!