One of the greatest joys in my life is my family. I’m sure we can all agree that motherhood has its ups and downs. One of the best parts of the journey for me has been experiencing it alongside my sister and her children. I absolutely love spending time as a family and watching the endless memories being created. They don’t know it yet, but these cousins of theirs are their first best friends.
My sister and I are two and a half years apart. We both have two kids. She has two boys, I have to girls. I’ll never forget when she was pregnant with her first and I had no idea that I was pregnant with my second. They ended up being just three months apart. Then her second came and the fearsome foursome was complete.
I feel very blessed to get to go through motherhood alongside her. The good, the bad and the ugly. I don’t have to worry about judgement, cleaning up the house for playdates, creating some well thought out plan for playtime… these kids just play. And play. And play. Now that they are getting a bit older they don’t require so much immediate supervision. It allows my sister and I to catch up, to plan some craft projects we will never actually make, or to just stare into space due to pure exhaustion and not feel the need to converse when we don’t have the energy. I know the day will come when they will get a bit older, and the girls and boys won’t want to spend as much time together, but for now, they are perfect playmates.
I have a few cousins, but we saw each other mostly at holidays or when visiting the grandparents. We weren’t that close and unfortunately to this day still are not. It makes the relationship my kids have with their cousins even more meaningful. There are so many amazing things about cousins. Here are just a few that come to mind:
- They are like your siblings, but you’re not stuck with them ALL the time. They go home!
- They are each others first best friends, and they have no idea.
- They get it. They can already sense the dysfunctional aspects of our family. They will have stories for years to come and will laugh about the nuances of our family.
- They will always have each other. Yes they are blood. Yes they are friends. What stronger bond could there be?
- They are creating precious memories, not only for themselves, but for my parents and my sister and I.
- My sister and I get to experience motherhood together. We get to lift one another up when we are exhausted, cranky and emotionally spent. We get to laugh at the silliness and chaos they create. We get to just be us, nobody to impress, nobody to judge our parenting. We get to create more memories together with our families.
I can’t imagine a greater, more beautiful gift than cousins.