To My Favorite Cousin,

Thank you. Thank you for making reunions better, younger cousins tolerable and jokes out of our shared misery.

You are like my own sibling, and in fact, I like you better than my actual siblings.

You make the family reunions better. You're someone I can talk to, someone who can relate, someone who gets me more than I get me. You know that that one lookmeans, "Let's get out of here," or that a rumbling stomach means "Time for Ben & Jerry's." You know when I need to escape, and I, in turn, know you.

I know you like the back of my hand, even with years between us, both in age and since we've seen each other. I remember playing mermaids when we were nine, seals when we were ten. Pull-out couches with Glee marathons and sticky mint chocolate chip ice cream spilled all over the sheets. Feeling like a rebel when we stayed up until ten o'clock instead of nine-thirty.

We're still like this today, except now we have Netflix and it's four in the morning, and we have actual secrets to share, as opposed to "Don't tell anyone, but I ate the last cookie" from our youth.

You are my confidant, and I will always be yours.

We always wondered why the older cousins didn't want us tagging along, and now we know. Kids are not only a handful, but where do they get all the limit-less energy?! If we could find a way to bottle it, we could just retire right now. Maybe buy a yacht?

These kiddos are a lot of work, but you make it fun. We take care of kids in shifts, guarding over them on trails and in the woods, totally destroying the peace-of-nature vibe we had going, but that's okay. We'll find the nearest pond or berry patch and let them loose. Poor berries.

You're my sister-in-arms, plotting buddy, and the fellow panic-er. We become best friends every summer until we're torn apart by distance. We have inside jokes, shared snacks that are our thing and a secret handshake neither one of us ever got the hang of. We plot against fellow cousins for prank wars and plan ways to avoid foods we don't like.And, even better, we successfully morph into a ball of stress when we think we did something, like oh, get caught stealing a car (kidding) or spilling soda on hundred-year-old floorboards. Oops?

But regardless of distance and how often I see you, you will always be my closest friend. Until then, we have phones, we'll figure it out.

Love you lots,

Best Friend/Cousin