It is often said that cousins are the first friends we will ever have. True, but they are far more than that. Cousins not only draw from some of the same gene pool, but also show up on the same family tree. They share irrevocable experiences of childhood that can never be lost and an understanding of the unique joys and challenges of your crazy family. No matter where life takes you, neither geography or decades can take any of that away. All that is certainly true for Sandra and I.

Our mother’s were sisters and we were born five weeks (I being the more mature of the two) and one mile apart. As kids we did everything together. We were always in the same class at school until we headed into high school. I always figured that she got the beauty but I got the brains. Our lives took very different paths in that she married soon after graduating from high school and she and Larry raised their three kids fairly close to home. We both had two boys and a girl but my slower start meant that our oldest child was born about a month after her youngest. Since the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, her kids settled close to home while ours scattered to various sides of the continent.

We had a great time of catching up and reminiscing this week as Sandra and Larry came to Cayman to get a break from winter and spend some precious time with us. We took the opportunity to celebrate not only our shared 65th birthdays but also their 46th and our 39th anniversaries, by taking a catamaran cruise across the North Sound to a favourite restaurant. That whole cousin thing was most evident when Sandra and I would kill ourselves laughing over shared jokes that only puzzled Steve and Larry.

It is always fun to introduce others to the beauty, peace and experiences of our adopted home of Grand Cayman. We shared beautiful sunsets, picnics on the beach and evening visits on the patio. Larry even decided that he enjoyed swimming in the ocean and Sandra reigned in her claustrophobic tendencies to explore the wonders of the underwater universe, in a submarine. It was wonderful visit all around.

March 22-29/17