I spent my summers growing up at my grandparents house in a small community on the Long Island Sound. Getting to go to Connecticut was always a treat as my sisters and I were the only cousins who didn't live there all year round. We looked forward to it all year. My cousins, sisters and I would run wild all over the community, wreaking havoc all day and night. It was kinda like we were the "Howley Family Summer Camp," but there were no counselors. It was a kids paradise.

Fenwick was truly a special place. It is a private community on a golf course, as well as perched perfectly on the Long Island Sound. Most of the people in the area were rich families from New York, who used Fenwick as their summer escape. My family wasn't quite that. My grandparents lived there year round, and their house served as the retreat for all 7 of their children's families. Needless to say, we did not quite fit the typical Fenwick mold. We didn't wear white on the tennis courts, and to be honest it was a win if we even wore shoes. We were the ones sneaking past Katherine Hepburn's house late at night to start a fire on the beach. If we were lucky, we woke the neighborhood up with a late night golf cart ride down the second hole or a intense game of capture the flag on the third hole. Everyday started with the smell of bacon and coffee wafting from the kitchen, and it was all play from there on.

My grandpa was a college basketball and tennis player, and then was a college basketball coach. This resulted in seven extremely active and athletic kids, who ruled the court, field, and diamond. All of our parents passed this love of sports to us, so when we were all together we played all day. I can still see the view of the backyard while we played some of the most intense games of wiffle ball ever, with the waves crashing into the beach in the distance. Most of the cousins played baseball or softball, so wiffle ball games were some of our most fun. With our grandpa, Poppies, sitting on the patio smoking his pipe as our umpire, and our uncle Timmy as our designated pitcher, we would try to sneak in a game before dinner, then again after before the sun went down or the mosquitos ate us alive.

Whether it was playing tennis at the courts, basketball in the driveway, or pickle on the beach, we were always having fun together, and I wouldn't trade those memories for anything. I want to thank all my cousins for what they taught me, so here goes it.

1. Thanks for being my best friends.

Truly, I feel like no matter how long it is between seeing each other now that we are getting older, we just pick off right where we left off.

2. Thanks for making me competitive.

Whether it was a tennis match that went for hours or who got to sit where for dinner, you guys are the reason I am the competitor I am today.

3. Thanks for making me seem and feel cool.

It was always the best when I would come back after a summer and have some cool East Coast slang to throw at my Midwest friends. It was wicked cool.

4. Thanks for teaching me not to be afraid.

I hated jumping into that murky water, and running around in the dark on the golf course late at night playing capture the flag, but I saw my cool older cousins doing it, so I just had to.

5. Thanks for reminding me to be a kid.

No matter how old you were at Fenwick, if you were a cousin, you were a kid, which meant that you ate with the kids, and you got drafted onto a team for whatever game was happening that night. You reminded me that being a kid is the best.

6. Thanks for helping me appreciate every moment.

Once we no longer had the house at Fenwick, I realized how important it truly was to me, and how great the memories that I have from being there are.

7. Thanks for the memories.

Late night walks, "mudding," golf cart rides by the practice holes, grandma's hot fudge, the most intense Kemps games ever, the kids room (where all the kids slept, even if you were just on the floor), pickle, forts at the side beach, walks to the lighthouse, crabbing, king of the court, swimming to the raft, golf ball hunting, and s'mores on the beach.

You guys are and will forever be some of my best friends, and I cannot thank you enough for that. I can't wait until one day we are all grown and rich, and we can have a house in Fenwick, where our kids can run wild on the third hole. I can't wait for the day when we can all walk to the beach, with the smell of salt water in the air and the fog horn in the background.