All my life I have always spent most of my time surrounded by my family. We had Sunday dinners together, we vacationed together. There was always a family party for something -- birthday parties, random dinners, holidays. Most of the time I a family member babysat if I couldn't go somewhere with my parents (this list doesn't even begin to touch on times spent with other extended family). So it is no surprise that my cousins and I have always been extremely close. There are so many ways this is evident.
1. You want to hang out with your cousins more than your other friends.
I swear I spend more time with my cousins when I'm home -- more than anyone my own age.
2. You know you can tell them any of your secrets.
There is a code of trust that can only be developed after years of collaborating on pranks against your family.
3. If you tell them anything that isn't a secret, your whole family knows within an hour.
I can't even begin to tell you how many times this has happened.
4. Your parents put you in matching outfits.
5. So much matching.
6. And most of your life you got new clothes only if an older cousin was giving you hand-me-downs.
Shoutout to all my cousins for supplying my wardrobe.
7. Your friends think they have blackmail with your ugly Snapchat screenshots? Your cousins have them beat with that embarrassing picture of you from 1998.
It's also probably another picture of all of you matching.
8. They're the only ones who understand the crazy family stories.
Every time PaPa sings Italian opera at any and every family gathering we've ever had.
9. And if you weren't there to witness something, they're the first to tell you.
"Do you know the story of when your mom hit her head trying to get her hair to be bigger?"
10. When you get in trouble at a family gathering, you usually have at least one partner in crime.
I'll never forget when we got yelled at for joking about how literally no one told us we were having a family reunion until a month before it was happening.
