We’ve all got that someone in our lives we can tell anything to. That person that you can stay up all night talking and laughing with. That someone who you would do anything for, even if it puts you out of your comfort zone. For me, that someone is my cousin Jessica. Growing up together, we became each other’s rocks.
We always support each other, even if thousands of miles become between us.
I remember very fond childhood memories of visiting each other’s houses. Visiting her house felt like going to Disney World. I can recall sliding down the slip n slide in her backyard and toasting marshmallows late into the night. As we got older, our families found it harder to make trips to see each other.
So, we decided to start a new tradition. When I was in the sixth grade, Jessica stayed at my family’s house for a week in the summer; she’s been doing this ever since. Sure, we’ve grown up as the years pass. We always bring out our inner child when we spend time together. My family must put up with us singing High School Musical songs around the house and our screaming and laughing at bad cheesy movies. We always make sure to hit up the mall and make a haul video showing off all our finds. Plus, we find new recipes to try together, like blueberry scones (which were delicious by the way). Every time she comes to visit, we’re always surprised by how fast time can pass. Before we know it, we must say goodbye to each other yet again.
But of course, the pandemic happened.
Just like everyone else, it threw both of our families for a loop. Trips to see each other got canceled and our families felt isolated staying in our houses to practice social distancing. But we didn’t lose contact. We started FaceTiming a lot more often to catch up. The pandemic taught us both about resiliency and flexibility. Family means a lot to both of us, and we prioritized staying in touch.
Not only was it difficult to adjust to life during social distancing, but it was possibly even harder adjusting to going back to school. For her sophomore year, Jessica did all her classes online at home. She ended up missing an entire year of her college experience. I started my freshman year during the height of the pandemic, and I tried to get used to living away from home while also adjusting to a new “normal.” That first year of college was filled with fear and uncertainty. We leaned on each other, spending nights on the phone together.
It was comforting knowing that we weren’t going through everything alone.
Now that we’re both back at college in person, we started watching our favorite shows together online. Picture FaceTime, but with movies. We spent nights watching “Bridgerton” and “Emily in Paris”. Some of my favorite memories of college so far include snuggling up in my dorm room eating popcorn and watching trashy reality shows with Jessica. Having our movie nights together gives me something to look forward to throughout the day, and it serves as extra motivation to get through my classes and finish all my homework.
Our parents always tell us to enjoy this time together while we can, because we probably won’t see each other often when we’re older and out in the world. I don’t see that ever happening. Sure, our future careers and endeavors might make us go our separate ways, but I firmly believe that we’ll continue to prioritize each other. In fact, I’m looking forward to our future adventures and seeing all the fun places we both go.
