Cousins

You know how in movies or books, where the main character is close to his or her cousin/s? Like in Sweet Valley Twins and Friends, the twins Jessica and Elizabeth share a particularly close friendship with their cousins Robin and Kelly. But that doesn’t only happen in books; I know a lot of people who are close to their cousins. They not only share the cousinhood, but their cousins also act as their best friends sometimes.

I want that.

I came from a birthday party of a younger cousin earlier at their house. Her elder brothers are some of our cousins who were close to our (my brother and I) age. The party was fun, and not that I didn’t like hanging out with my mom, but you know the scene where the “younger ones” within the family tree — ones who are not exactly kids but not exactly grown up yet — get “placed” in a place where they could socialize amongst themselves and then the parents would come later on and get their kids (sometimes even forcibly) home? I want that.


I guess my relationship with my cousins isn’t really that…stellar. Okay, it’s practically nonexistent right now. True, we used to play together when we were young. Like when my paternal grandfather passed away, we all went to Batangas and my cousins and I played lots of games while passing time during the funeral. During Christmas, we’d go around the houses in the neighborhood and do our “Pamasko”, where my dad’s friends would give us aguinaldos. When some of our older cousins grew, well, older, me and my younger cousins would play at the bedroom (where there’s this BIG and bouncy bed that’s alive until now) and do pretend games and such. There was even a time when one of my younger cousins slept over at home because I promised I’d tutor her on Math…we stayed up until late and we’d turn off the TV whenever that scary trailer for a movie would come out. There was also a time when some of my cousins from my mother’s side (the brothers of my younger cousin who had a birthday party today) would go to our house everyday and we’d play with our Lego houses all afternoon. There were also the “ten-twenty” and Sailormoon days at my grand-aunt’s house at Tandang Sora while the grown ups socialized and all that.

But even with all those, my cousins and I had totally separate lives when we’re not together on family gatherings. It became too separate that we really grew apart as we grew up. Now even during family gatherings we hardly say hi to one another. A little nod there, a little eyebrow raise and that’s it.

That’s why I really envy those people who go out on gimmicks with their cousins on a somewhat regular basis. Or even if it’s seldom, at least they still go and hang out with each other outside of a family gathering. I want that. Just like how brothers and sisters are instant friends in some way, cousins are like that too. Heck, it would be even lovelier if we could get to know each other’s love lives and tease each other about it! You know, that we’d go beyond the word cousins and actually be friends as well.
I wish things are not really like this with us, that we didn’t have to grow apart. It’s kind of lonely, you know? I wonder if they think the same way? Maybe it’s just me, being somewhat sentimental and all. I hope that I would still be able to get to know my cousins for real and go beyond the “hi’s” and actually hang out. Talk. And maybe when the grown ups have a party or something, us cousins would be able to go our “separate ways” with the older people and have a party for ourselves.

That would be the day. But Lord, I still believe it could happen. Someday, I will be able to post a group picture of my brother and I with our cousins. And I hope that my future children and my brother’s future children would be luckier than us — that they’d actually know each other and be friends as well as cousins.

So, here’s to cousins. *clink* :)

On an afterthought…this particular cousin situation will definitely be a major part of my NaNoWriMo 2006 novel. Yeah. :)