My Cousin, My Friend

I wrote a post some time ago called Cousins by Blood, Friends by Choice. It was somewhat of a stretch at that time to call Braden and his cousin friends. I admit now that I only broached the topic in order to post a video of them that I liked. Jackson, Braden's cousin, for the longest time didn't care for Braden. It's not hard to understand why. He was the only grandchild on Arica's side of the family for two years. He got all his Grandma's attention, and like any kid, he was not too excited about the idea of sharing her.

Fast forward to today and the two boys are actually pretty good friends. Sometimes they fight, but that's normal. I have seen Braden drag Jackson across the floor by his neck so I know there is still some reason for caution, but the relationship has become much more amicable nonetheless.

This newly successful union brings about a new question. With our twins on the way, how will Braden respond? How will he like sharing his Mom and Dad with these new babies? And two at once no less.

Jackson's family is expecting another baby too. They are having a little boy, and the due date in only two weeks ahead of Arica's. So Jackson will have to learn to share his Mom and Dad as well.

And both of them will have to learn to share Grandma and Grandpa with THREE MORE KIDS!

That's another topic for another time. For now let's put all that aside and just appreciate the budding friendship that these two cousins are enjoying. Last month they spent a couple Saturday's together after Jackson's soccer games. Braden LOVES Jackson and would spend every day with him if he could. But Jackson initiated these gatherings, which is proof that he might just love Braden too.

So here's to the two little guys that have helped each other learn how to share loved ones, a skill they are both going to desperately need.

Cousins By Blood, Friends By Choice (I hope)

Nearly every child has friends built right into their family tree. These hopefully close friends are called cousins. At the very least you get to play with them a lot growing up. When you gather for family functions the cousins go off to play while the adults sit around and talk about the weather, politics, or whatever adults talk about.

Growing up I had two cousins, a boy and a girl, on my mom's side of the family.  We got together with Mom's family about once a month. In other words I saw these cousins all the time  The boy cousin was quite a bit older than me so we weren't that close. He used to pick on me too. That might be another reason we weren't that close.

The girl cousin was close to my age so we were friends early in life. As we grew older I took to sports and hunting. She took to shopping and other girlie pursuits. We grew apart fairly quickly.

I did have one cousin that was my good friend. My Dad's Brother had a son named Eric. I posted about him here a while back.  Eric and I grew up together on the farm. While our Dad's worked or more often discussed the best way to do the work, we played. There is no limit to how much fun little boys can have on the farm.

We promised to be best friends forever. Of course we grew apart too. I have seen him twice that I can remember in the last 10 years. Once was at our Grandpa's funeral. The other time was after Braden was born when his family came to my parents house to meet Braden and Arica.

During that visit we reminisced about the time we dissected a turtle. I had totally forgot about that and was quite impressed with my younger self upon remembering. We also remembered all the little things we built from junk we found, like the boats that we floated on the pond. It was fun to talk with my old friend.

I started thinking about cousins recently when I transferred a video of Braden and his cousin, Jackson, to my computer.  Jackson is about 2 years older than Braden, and belongs to Arica's brother.  At first Jackson didn't want to share his Grandma with Braden. That is to be expected. He eventually did warm up to Braden. They had plenty of opportunity to play together so I guess it was just a matter of time.

Here is the aforementioned video. Braden is pushing Jackson on a train. Yes, they are both wearing Batman pajamas. No, that was not planned. Yes, it is pretty cool anyway.



As you can see they are working on a friendship already. This has the potential of a special cousin bond that could last forever and provide a lot of great memories. I hope they get along and can be friends for a lifetime.

I think a lot of that might hinge on what Braden has to say once he starts talking.