Family is a gift

"You don't choose your family.  They are God's gift to you, as you are to them. " ~Desmond Tutu 

I don't think this statement could be any more true! This is how I view alot of things in my life. Now that I'm older and have many responsibilities and will be getting married in a few years, I see that alot of those things in my life are things that the Lord has chosen me to have, the privilege. When I was younger my friends and I would be sent to Church and CCD. Although it wasn't always fun, we wouldn't complain going. In life though not everything can be fun! We were all friends and were able to share in that time together to talk and just be together. It's amazing to me looking back that we were so young but we still knew the difference. That's one reason why I love all my friends. We may be going in different ways and have many different interests but we all can look back and remember that time. We all lived in the same neighborhood so the lessons we learned were instilled in us every day no matter where we were.  We would sit in these small rooms learning about the Lord and what he has given to us and what our lives mean. At that time I don't think all of us grasped the concept that our lives aren't something we rightly have. I know I sure didn't. 

I am so grateful for everything I have in my life.  Most importantly, I just grateful for the life I've been given. As I explained in this post, I had RSV when I was 2 months old and was not supposed to make it. Although I accept people that don't think they should be grateful for what they have, because in reality they are humans regardless, I don't support that point of view. We cant always have everything we WANT and don't take the time to realize that what we NEED is just fine. I try to always be there for everyone I can and do good things, and it breaks my heart when some people have so much potential success and don't even realize it because at this time, they are struggling. We are each in this world for a reason. For some of us, our time is cut shorter than others but we each still have some greatness and have changed the word in our own way. 

I am grateful for alot and some of it, to be honest, isn't needed. I'm so grateful to be able to wake up in the morning to share another day and experience all the new things I do. I'm grateful for my fiance, who, although we have our moments, is so great and always there for me. I'm grateful for the  cutest little puppy. I'm grateful for being able to have a roof over my head and having food I can eat. I'm grateful for being able to go to school and getting a degree so I can purse my career, I'm grateful for my parents. I'm grateful that I can go to the store when I want and buy whatever clothes I choose, or anything I want in general. There are so many things that I'm grateful for, big and small, but at the end of the end, family is what I treasure the most

I come from a good size family. My mom has 3 sisters and a brother, plus their spouses. My dad has a sister and 2 brothers, with their spouses too. I love having so many aunts and uncles. I do want to add that not only do I have all these aunts and uncles but, two of them are my godparents. My dad's sister and my moms brother. I don't see my moms brother alot because  he lives 3 hours away but I get the privilege to see my godmother alot. She is wonderful and I'm so glad she's my godmother too. When getting my confirmation she was there standing by my side and has always done that.  Besides these aunts and uncles, I have ALOT of first cousins. 30 to be exact. A few of these are 2nd cousins and a girlfriend of one cousin but we consider them 1st cousins regardless. I have 2nd cousins, 3rd cousins and so on! There's so many people. I know no family is completely perfect and I hate to say this but my family is so wonderful. We don't talk everyday or see each other every week, or even month, but we are close when we do. One thing I love about my family, especially my cousins is that we have all be raised kind of the same. We like different things and our lives are going in different ways but we have the same beliefs. All of the things we've been taught about life and how to treat people etc are the same and I love that. I have a unique relationship with each of my cousins. There's one relationship in particular that I am beyond grateful for

This is my cousin Alex

I love this guy! We are 8 months and 2 days apart, with him being the older one. We are both only children too. 

Him and I have a relationship that is hard to explain. Not because we don't get along, but because we get along too well. I honestly have to say I consider him my brother instead of my cousins. When we were younger, teenagers and such, we would go in another room and just chat for hours while everyone else was together. We talked about alot. Issues at school or in our friendships. About things we were planning on doing or just things we hoped our lives would include. We were young and didn't know as much as we do now so although our relationship was strong, its so much stronger now. When I think about it myself, its actually funny. Here are two cousins who are so beyond close, act like brother and sister and have this personal connection. You'd think it should be really weird. For us, it's not though. Up until two years ago, him , my aunt and uncle lived about 45 minutes away or more from us. We saw each other at parties and every once in awhile in between. We saw each other more in the summer but still not enough. I think that's also what makes us close. We were so close but couldn't hang out or talk much. He had his friends and hobbies and I had mine. We learned to be grateful for the times we were able to spend together and we looked forward to the times we would have. As I said, we didn't really realize how great our relationship is until we got older. 

As you can, hopefully, tell in this picture, we have different interests. He wears all black and has long hair. Loves music, black metal especially. Loves to go to concerts, writes his own music, is in a band and just loves to live life with his friends. goes to bars and goes on trips to see different musicians and things. Likes cigars and spends his time listening to music at home or playing video games. Me on the other hand: I love country music. I love staying home and watching TV. I have so many different outfits. I don't like going to bars and don't drink. The only vacations I go on is when we go down to Louisiana. I think you can get the picture. We are SO different yet we get along so well and that's what I love about us. Although there are times we may not like what the other is doing or thinks, we still accept each other and if it makes each of us happy then so be it. Don't get me wrong, we've had our fights. More so when we were younger but we've still had them. It's weird because I cant get mad at him for long. A few weeks ago we had a misunderstanding. Basically we didn't communicate something we should have. At first I was a little upset but I had this itch in me that said not to be mad. At one point I actually laughed at myself for being mad. 

Although we've had our moments, he really is the greatest and it's hard to express how much our relationship means to me. We've been through so much together. This guy has been there for me through everything I've experienced in my life, just like I have been for him. He's my shoulder to cry on. My friend to laugh hysterically with. My strength when I feel down. My encourager when I've had something I've wanted to accomplish. My hand when I've walked into a situation out of my comfort zone. The one whose put me in my place when needed. The one who teaches me things. The one who pushes me and most of all, the one who's been my best friend. As I said it's hard to put into words what this guy  has been to me and how he's affected my life for the better. He's the greatest guy I know and I don't know what I'd ever do without him.

I wanted to share a few things with you.

This first thing is the quote that our relationship lives by

Cousins by blood, friends by choice. This is one of the most important things in our relationship. As we all know, family is a gift. We were put on this earth to be blood cousins, that was God's plan. He gave us the base to our relationship and then let us go to figure out what it would actually be. I don't know too many cousins who have a relationship like ours and I wish I did. I have good relationships with all of my other cousins but this one is most special. Him and I could just be cousins who see each other at Christmas or birthday parties but no. We have chosen to also be friends, who go to dinner, or go to the mall to shop. 

A few years ago for a Christmas gift I believe, my aunt made me an album that had pictures of us growing up, from birth on. Its so special to me. These are the last two pages in it and I think my absolute favorite. They both basically explain what our relationship is like.

These are chorus lyrics to a song she found. Although this isn't my type of song, the chorus explains us so well. The name of the same is "Together, Whenever We Go":

As I said, I treasure this relationship so much and I'd honestly be lost without him.