Cousins
By Modestah
@Modestah (11179)
United States
May 2, 2008 2:08am CST
I always thought of cousins as being your own special relative - just your size.
We have a pretty big family so I have plenty of cousins both male and female... but my family traveled a lot so my brother and I never developed any strong bonds with our cousins and that saddens me.
How many first cousins do you have? Did you spend a lot of time with them while you were growing up?
Do you still have a closeness to your cousins?
3 people like this
17 responses
@KarenO52 (2950)
• United States
2 May 08
I grew up having quite a few cousins. We spent time visiting, and sharing special occasions. I had some favorite cousins that I used to hang out with when I was in my teens.
When I got married, I moved so far away, I never see my cousins anymore. I still keep in touch with one of my cousins who I never got to see much when we were younger. I made sure that all my cousins had my address and phone number, but since they've never called or contacted me, I guess they're not interested, or too busy. It's kind of sad, but I still have good memories of them.
1 person likes this
@heart143 (1202)
• Philippines
2 May 08
From my father's side, Ive got 21 first cousins and from my mother's side, Ive got 6. So just like you, I've got plenty of cousins. Though, both my parents are the eldest among their siblings, they married the last that's why my siblings and I are the youngests among all my cousins. When we were young, all of us were close to each other. We play and hang out a lot. We were very close to each other until our teen years. But when we grew older, we are not that close anymore because we started making our own lives. Some of them got married early, some went to pursue higher studies, others moved to another town, others migrated to other countries while others remained in our small town. We only get to see each other during reunions which happens only once in a blue moon but whenever we get together, we always have a good time sharing stories when we were kids and laughing at the funny times we've had.
@minnie_98214 (10557)
• United States
2 May 08
I am not close to any of my cousins at all unfortunatly. But I do have a so called cousin shes not related in anyway but our moms were best friends so we grew up together and well shes my cousin as far as im concerned.
1 person likes this
@ruby222 (4847)
•
2 May 08
Like you i have lots of cousins,but we never keep in touch now,and really if i were to walk past them in the street i probably wouldnt know them now,which is fairly sad really.But when we were kids we used to play together and go out together as families ,but i suppose like everything time marches on and we all go our own ways.I recently met one of my cousins again for the first time in about 15 years,and in that time she had parted from her hubby and had her new boyfriend with her.it always seems strange when you meet someone after that length of time,you feel as though you dont really know what to say to them anymore.
@liquorice (3887)
•
2 May 08
I've got 5 first cousins and we all grew up pretty close, playing with each other a lot. The oldest one's 5 years older than me and the youngest one is 16 years younger!
Now that some of us have our own families and others have moved away we're not all so close any more but we're still in touch and see eachother on family occasions.
The oldest one, however, has become like another sister for me especially as we both have little girls and they really get on well with eachother too! I suppose they're first cousins once removed, and it's nice that it'll hopefully carry on for another generation.
@Modestah (11179)
• United States
4 May 08
that's right, first cousins once removed. I have the most awful time trying to explain how that works (the once removed twice removed etc as opposed to 2nd cousins etc) how about you, do you find a lot of people do not grasp the concept?
that is neat that you and your cousin have children that enjoy eachother's company.
@liquorice (3887)
•
4 May 08
Yes, I've always found it really hard to grasp this concept and have never even tried to explain it to someone! Is it that if your parents are first cousins then you and their kids are first cousins once removed and and then your children and their children would be first cousins twice removed?
But the relationship between me and my cousin's daughter is second cousin.
Reading that back it looks so complicated, and that's just me trying to understand it myself, lol!
@maddysmommy (16230)
• United States
3 May 08
Too many to name and count. The only ones I am close to are the ones I grew up with. Even though I don't live near most of them, we still keep in touch online or via email. I still meet new cousins every now and then either online or at family reunions.
@sacmom (14192)
• United States
3 May 08
Let me see...on my dad's side I have 3 (first) cousins, and on my mom's side I have 18 (first) cousins. One is actually one of my aunt's stepchildren, but I have always considered him my cousin. I remember him as such since before I can even remember, so why would I consider him anything less?
Most of my cousins are several years older than I am though I did see half of them, at least on my mom's side, while I was growing up. It has been a few years since I have seen any of them.
@joyce959 (1559)
• Philippines
4 May 08
I also have so many first cousins both at my mother side and father side. But I am more close to my cousins in my mother side coz I live and studied in the home province where my first cousins live and studied too. But since we have our own families too now and have moved out of the home province, we don't often see each other anymore. But years ago, we have family reunion where we have come to meet and talk and have fun.
@sissy15 (12300)
• United States
3 May 08
I have a lot of first cousins and well a lot of cousins in general, I want to say I have like 45 first cousins give or take. I didn't spend a lot of time with most of them, because I am the youngest grandchild on both sides, and most were a lot older than me. I have like 4 close to my age, but we were never around each other that much. I was closer to my nieces and nephews who were around my age, my parents are older, so I have much older siblings. My older nieces and nephews were like my cousins in a way, we used to hang out a lot, and some of us are still close.
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
2 May 08
I still have a few cousins but they are all in other states
so do not see much of them. I am a senior citizen so am older than most of my cousins. I have a few writing cousins
and a lot whom I have never met. I found them through my
geneaology work
@ruthinian (2309)
• United States
2 May 08
Yes, we grew up together and stay close up to now. I am an only daughter and my cousin is an only child, so I guess she considered me and my brothers her siblings. Our parents were responsible to this. Her kids and my brother's kids are also close right now and spend the entire vacation together. My siblings and I are also closed with our cousins in both our father and mother's side and we get together on special ocassions. I miss then now. They always get together without me because I migrated and won't be able to be back home for quite a while.
@rhane7315 (5649)
• Philippines
9 May 08
i have many cousins on my father's side but i'm much closer to my cousins (when i was young) on my mother's side. we grow up from different area in our country so we're really not that close as we grow up
@scarlet_woman (23463)
• United States
2 May 08
i have 2 first cousins by blood and two by marriage
(though the family no longer recognizes the by marriage ones).
i'm still close to one of them,he's my favorite cousin,more like a brother to me.his sister i still talk to,but she's usually busy,she's an actress of some sort.
@kbourgerie (8780)
• United States
2 May 08
I have a few cousins, but unfortunately, we are not close. I traveled so much of my life and so we didn't really grow up together. We still speak from time, but its far and few between.
@jesbellaine (4139)
• Philippines
2 May 08
If you are asking for first cousins, the oldest first cousin of mine is 17 years old. Others are still kids and I can say that I am really close with my first cousins since I always do see them especially they are still kids and I get to be the one to take care of them when they visit here in the city.
I do have other cousins (2nd cousins)that is with the same age but not all of them are close to me but quite a few and we still keep our communication.
Good day! Cheers!