My Big Cous

Only half my family lives in teh US. My mom is from around here, she was born in Jersey and grew up in Philly and Bensalem. Her side of the family lives either around here or in Georgia and some in Cleveland. My dad, on the other hand, is from the islands. Hes from St. Vincent and the Grenadines, a small group of islands near Barbados, the largest of which is smaller than Philadelphia. One of his sisters lives in Canada, another in England, and all the rest are still in teh islands. As you can imagine, i am far less familiar with my dad's side of the family than my mom's, some of those relatives i have only met once in my life and some never at all. But i am pretty close to my cousin from England.

Laura is my big cousin (by just over a year). I met her for the first time when i was 6 and she was 7 and she came to visit for a summer and stayed with my family. It was great for me because i am an only child and i always wanted a sister, so i remember that summer fondly. My grandmother (my dad's mom) also came up from St. Vincent that summer. That was the first time i saw my Granny and the first time i met Laura. Laura and i got together two more times after that. Once when i was 12 or 13 both our families went to canada to meet with my dad's sister that lives tehre and her family. We went to Caribana and it was a lot of fun. Then when i was 17 my parents took me to Europe for graduation and we stayed with Laura's family.

So this past week was only the 4th time in my life i have seen my cousin face to face and i was just amazed at how well we got along. She came down from Boston (where she is staying with a friend from school) on Monday afternoon and just went back yesterday at 5. We have a lot in common and we understand each other well. She came with her friend from Boston and i took them shopping and out to Pod and down to south street. Me and Laura went to get our hair done together and the two of them went out with one of my friends who is 21 to old city. It was tough because i had exams to study for, so i was up studying in the wee hours of the morning while they were sleeping, and i had to cut out of shopping early to get back to campus and take an exam. But all in all it was a really great visit and i was so sad to see her go!

I figure its hard for my dad like this all the time because he doesnt have any blood relatives here in the states except for me. It makes me sad to know that a whole half of my family i am so unfamiliar with, its probably sad for my dad too. But at least i got my big cous, and i plan to visit her soon after graduation!