Cousin/brothers Cousin/sisters

Cousin/brother cousin/sister.

These are my contribution of two new words to the American English language for this year.  The definition?  Cousins that are so close that they are more a brother or sister living in a different home with different parents but are still related.  I came up with this term while watching my grand-kids this week.  They have spent so much time together in their short lives that they are more like brothers and sisters than cousins.  And they fight like they are brother and sisters.  Believe me it is not that pretty.

I only had one set of cousins that were close enough physically to be considered cousin/brothers and sisters.  Despite them moving back to my home town when the eldest one was a teenager, people I had grown up with thought they were my brothers and sister.  Here I am short and dark headed and they were all redheaded or shading that way and tall.

As most of my brothers and one sister were gone from home by the time I hit middle school (at that time 7th grade) y cousins became a second family to me.  They would include me in their activities and would let tag along with them at football and basketball games.  To a shy, somewhat backwards kid this was a godsend.

Later when the boys were old enough to drive they would come get me and take me hunting or fishing or any other activity I might have liked.  I, and they, went our own ways for a while, still keeping in touch through our parents so that we would know what was going and how we were doing.  We saw each other at family gatherings and other places.  I even worked for one briefly.  We have talked more now that my health is what it is.  That's a shame too.  It should not take the impending death of a person to reforge the ties that bind.

To them and my other set of cousin/sisters, I want to tell them of my love and gratitude to them for taking care of me all those years ago.  I can never tell them how much it meant.  Then and now.

Come to think of it, I don't remember ever having a fight between us.

Until next time................