Yay! For Cousin A

It was about a year ago that a friend suggested I join Facebook. I want to thank him, again, for that. Soon I was in touch with friends and family that I hadn't seen in too many years. And one of the family members that got in touch with me was Cousin A. I won't use her entire name, as I don't want to say anything that would be embarrassing for her.

She is a year younger than I am and, as children, was my best friend. With her the late night gigglefests helped develop the sense of humor I have now. Her family lived with us for a bit while they were relocating after a brief stint on the coast and she taught me sign language so we could talk in the dark without anyone knowing. Well, that was blown by the laughter that would follow each sentence we signed. Our poor parents. But - they never separated us so it couldn't have been that bad.

And her mother is fantastic. That woman once drove us to a theater two hours away so we could see The Last Waltz as a midnight movie. At the time Cousin A and I were expanding our music appreciation. With each man who came onstage we were, "Is that Bob Dylan?". We soon learned more about Dylan and the Band's music. And for a good six months or so we wore scarves like Rick Danko wore onstage in the movie. Ah, good times.

Now she is a Dean at a University far away. She is a brave, powerful, intelligent woman and I am so proud of her that I smile each time I think of her.

Her mother took us and her sister, Cousin S, to lunch and to the Wal-mart in January while Cousin A was home for the holidays. I had a glorious time. It was nice to have conversations with such wonderful women. I had missed them so much.

And now Cousin A and I are in touch through e-mail. I am thoroughly enjoying our conversations in that medium. It is so nice to be back in touch.

After having had such a bad day yesterday, thinking of Cousin A really lifted my spirits and I thought I would share. Hopefully you have that special cousin or childhood friend that made your young life happy. That gave you years worth of memories, so much so that you could just pick up and start talking to them again after not having spoken in many years. Someone that makes you smile just thinking of them. That is my Cousin A. Thanks A.