Nancy Tart: Writing for Life

April 6, 2018

Cousin Bonds

I love watching the awesome relationships between my children and their cousins.  Cousins are something like siblings you don’t live with.  They know you, accept you just as you are, enjoy normal everyday things with you, and share one set of grandparents.  For my children, their cousins are their best friends.  My children are very fortunate to have most of their cousins close by.

The bond seems instant.  From crib days, they are inseparable!

They spend long minutes to make bubbles stick to another’s hair as a “crown.”

They turn part of the back yard in to an aerial picture (after two studying about the Hopewell Indians and mounds).  Their picture was dugout, in the shape of an elephant and a duck head, created to “hold wasted water.” (The photographer, Rebeccah, and Kimberly who had studied the mound builders, explained while building that this wasn’t heaped up dirt, but it  would look good from above.)

Sometimes fun is just looking through a magazine together.

Cousins turn long car rides into parties!

When Grandma joins in, cousin time is even more fun!

Cousins share passions with each other – like a love for waves, wind, and water! (Yes, the dots in the cool March water are most of the sister-cousins!)

When cousins move away, the distance doesn’t stop the love that they have for each other.  Even Lucas, who was two when his “baby Isaac” moved to the Midwest, still talks about “when Isaac and Mandy and their baby come play trains with me.”  (He’s never seen his “baby” cousin, JJ, except in pictures, but he loves him anyway!)  The beauty of cousin love is when they reunite, it doesn’t matter time, distance, or changes, each is so excited to see the other and they seem to instantly pick up where they left off; like the best of friends.

Thanks for reading!

Type at you next time…

~Nancy Tart