Cousins

I love the fact that my kids are growing up knowing most of their cousins and being able to play with them. Granted, the closest cousins on my side of the family live 2 hours away, so it's not like they get to see them on even a monthly basis.  Still, though, every couple of months, they get to see some of their cousins and hang out and play with them. 

Extended family is pretty important in my family.  In fact, I'm pretty sure my family extends more than most families.  My husband (who has 3 cousins he rarely sees) was always amazed that I knew my second cousins (children of my parents' cousins). Even though we lived on the East coast while many of them lived out west, we still had family reunions on a regular basis (every couple of years) and got to see and play with them. 

I'm so glad that for most of their cousins, my children don't have to wait several years to see them.  There's something to be said about knowing your relatives and seeing not just family resemblances, but personality resemblances and idiosyncrasies and knowing that you share a common family history.

Hooray for family! Here's to family reunions and cousins.