My cousin, my friend

When you were growing up, did you have a favorite cousin? Back in the day, families were close, not only emotionally but physically. I lived just down the street from my cousins. We were inseparable. Summers seemed to last forever, and on any given day you could find us playing at the grade school, building forts in the woods, walking the railroad tracks, or playing tin can alley when it grew dark. I would have to say that back then my best friend/cousin was Allison. We were together everyday. She was two years younger than I was, but that didn't matter to me and my twin. Allison was our best friend even if she was our cousin.
When I was about 12 or so another cousin moved into my little town. I didn't know Heidi very well. The only thing I knew about her was that she had lived all over the world and she spoke another language. I was so amazed by her.
I don't know when we became close friends/cousins. Looking back, I cannot pinpoint a particular time when we even started hanging out together. It just happened. Somewhere along the way Heidi and I became best friends. Somewhere along the way I also found out that she was a Navy brat and she really didn't live all over the world nor did she speak another language. But that didn't matter, I was still amazed by her. After all, I had never been away from my little town, and she came all the way from a far off land called Connecticut.
I remember the funny things we used to do, hanging out at her house. By the way, her house was the coolest house to hang out in..she had a pool in her house that we could swim in during the winter months..how cool is that? She had a spiral staircase and a sunken bathtub. And she had very cool parents. These are things you just didn't see in this little town I grew up in during the 70's. Anyways, we spent many nights calling up the local radio station requesting our favorite songs, trying to get a tan on her balcony (yea, she even had a balcony)! Oh did I mention we tried to get a head start on our tans by laying out in the middle of February in Ohio! We celebrated my 16th birthday at her house with my twin and another cousin, Sheryl. But before we could do that we had to do a "Chinese fire drill" at the the traffic light in our little town. Sadly to say that there are only two traffic lights in our town and there were no other cars at this particular light. But we still performed the drill and ran around the car like yoo-hoos, but it was fun, we thought we were rebels! After turning 16, we spent our Friday nights cruising the boulevard, eating at Burger King and then heading off to Parrel to the skating rink.
That was thirty years ago. I recently spent some time with my cousin, Heidi. She's no longer a navy brat, but an Army wife. She hasn't lived in Mayberry for many many years but now calls Alaska home. Friends may come and go in your lifetime, but there's something special when your best friend is also your cousin. No matter how long we are away from each other, when we do see each other we always just pick up where we last left off.
So if its been awhile since you talked to that favorite childhood relative, maybe you should get a hold of them and pick up where you last left off.