When I was a kid, I somehow got left out by the popular kids at school who soon cut me out completely, making sure nobody else would hang out with me. The school was not a happy place for me.

So I was spending my lunchtime at the library, studying and became an A student. I was not particularly smart, but the fact I studied so much taught me that hard work pays off. However, there is no “A” or “star” at the top of a paper that can compensate for feeling like you belong to a group of friends.

Thankfully, I had my cousins.

We all lived close to each other and after school, we all played together. My dad comes from a family of 23 (I still have about 15 uncles and ants still today on that side) and my mom comes from a family of 7. I have over 40 direct cousins and most of them now have kids too. 

So as a kid, lots of my mom’s brothers and sisters lived closed by and we would meet every night to play. My brother and I were the youngest so even though, by our age, we would not necessarily have been « invited » to play, one of them was always assigned the « job » of babysitting us so we would get to hang out with our cool cousins, all the time! All the time here means EVERY DAY.  A group of approx 12 cousins playing together every day after dinner until dawn.

Today, we are still all very close as we grew up together playing tag and hockey. We had pool parties in the summer, swimming until our lips turned blue. So many great memories fill my head every time I think of my childhood!

This past weekend, my cousin Patrick was here in White Rock to visit us with his family. So many treasured memories came back! What a childhood, from which I choose to remember all the amazing times with my cousins! What lessons have you learned from your childhood?

#family#cousinpower #childhoodmemories #thinkyourselfacademy#hardworkpaysoff