Dear little cousin,

You are practically my little brother. You have lived with me for so long, that people have just assumed that we are siblings. I know that you've been wanting to join the Marines for so long now, but now that you are leaving in a few weeks. It has become more and more real. When I cam home from college, we just kept saying oh 2 months until you leave, and now its 2 weeks away. It feels like just yesterday we were playing together in the back yard, and now you're off too doing great things for our country.

It's going to be so weird not having you around every day. Who is going to fix anything around the house? Who is going to kill all the spiders in our house?

Yes, I am happy for you for serving our country. But I am scared for you at the same time. I know you can handle yourself, but it's just an older cousin instinct that triggers me to worry. I know that training isn't that long, but it will still feel like a really long time.

Seeing how dedicated you are to joining the Marines, makes me so proud. Hearing you talk about all of you workouts and how excited you are to just go into camp is like hearing a child talk about their favorite toy.

I know we fight sometimes, but that's what family does. Just because we fight, doesn't mean that I'm not supporting you and your choices. I am supporting you, in fact I am supporting you more than you know. I tell all my friends how proud I am of you all the time. We talk about how proud we all are of you for protecting our country.

So when you are in camp and feeling like you are so tired and want to give up. Don't. Just remember that every single member of our family is proud of you. We all know that you will achieve great things in the Marines and will become a much stronger person.

I will miss you more than you know. I wish you the best and I can't wait to hear about what you did in camp and hear your stories about waking up earlier than you are used to.

Love,

Your older cousin.