When the family starts to grate on your nerves or you need to keep something within the family, many people turn to someone outside of their immediate family — their cousins. But cousins can be weird. They can be your best friend or your worst enemy. Sometimes they can even act like a brother or sister, taking you under their wing and teaching you what they have learned.
When you’re close to your cousins, something great happens. Being that close can give you the freedom you’d never thought you would have. They can take you more places and introduce you to new people and things that can open your world beyond what you thought you knew. Cousins are there to pick you up when you need it, whether it’s an emotional pick-me-up where they show up with your favorite whiskey and concert tickets to see your favorite band, or literally picking you up when you are stranded somewhere. Sometimes, though, you are only close with some of your cousins. Coming from a very large family, I have 16 first cousins, and I am only close with two of them, but if it weren’t for my cousins I don’t think that I would be the person I am today.
My cousins are actually considered my half-brothers because my mom and my aunt are identical twins. This has actually made us closer. We are more like actual brothers and sisters instead of cousins. Without them, I would not have discovered my love of metal or how much their friends and I have in common. Even though there is a nine- and the 10-year age gap between the three of us, they treat me as if I was just one of them. If my cousins, John, and Chris, weren’t such a big part of my life, I would still be in my little bubble.
They are the ones who took me to my first metal show when they bought me tickets to see Ghost for my 21st birthday. They are the ones who took me to my first Oktoberfest where I sampled beer and a variety of foods and then fell down a hill when some rocks slid out from underneath me. Sometimes it doesn’t even matter what we do; sometimes it’s just nice to be together. There are days when we just go grocery shopping and then grab lunch or hang out in the backyard playing card games and drinking, but no matter what we do, we always have fun.
On lazy Sundays at our grandparents' house, they have offered to teach me all about formula 1 and how the sport works. There are some days where we just sit and cook together and experiment with new foods. Most times, they’re good; other times, well, we don’t speak of those. We have had so many good times together, and we make family our top priority. Sometimes, though, there are people who aren’t family oriented. There are some people who haven’t made an effort to get to know their family and in all honesty, they are missing out. Now I can’t say the same for all families; I can only speak on behalf of my own, but there is nothing that can replace family, and sometimes family can make the best friends.
