thankful thursday

i want to take a second to thank my cousin.

back in the day- like 15 years ago- i lived with my mom, aunt, and 3 cousins. in a 2 bedroom apartment. to say it was cramped would be an understatement. i honestly do not even know how we did it.

but, even though times may have been tough, i didn't feel like i was missing anything. i had family and love and a roof over my head.

anyways, so back to today. my cousin makes a decent living by playing online poker. he has good fortune and it has given him the opportunity to do a lot of great things. we happen to be the same age, even though i feel at least 10 times older. funny how kids do that to you.

with that said, he and i are close in age and though we have not been super close in recent years, i do hold him close to my heart, along with his sister's because we shared those years together, almost as siblings.

for Christmas my cousin bought the kids and i airfare to fly home to chicago to be with my family for the holidays. i cannot describe to you how amazingly appreciative i am of this. i live hundreds of miles away from almost all of my family, and very rarely get to visit them. not only that, but my sister just gave birth to my first niece, too! it is the first time all of our kids will be together in one place.

i love my cousin. i love my family. i love my giant extended family. they mean the world to me.

and, i will find a way to pay it forward.