How much do your cousins mean to you? (boyfriend, female, male)
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I have some cousins I am very close with, only about 2-3 mind you, and the rest are just kind of acquaintances. I've tried closing some gaps to get closer, but nothing really sticks, so I have just moved on to focusing on the ones who I have good friendships with now.
Are they very much part of the family, closer to siblings (although rarely are they the same)?
Do you see them as just good friends?
Or are they just like strangers to you?
Do you feel any sense of loyalty to them and vice versa?
I have quite a few cousins, all over the world. They range in age from 13 to 40. The ones that live in the same city as me, I see perhaps a few times a year. We're pretty friendly, and they're definitely still 'family' (I don't like to give family a lot of 'privileges' but it's still different) but I'm not sure how they compare to good friends. I'd say it's similar to friends.
As for my other cousins, since I so rarely see them they seem like strangers to me. The times I have met them, some of them haven't acted very friendly or interested in getting to know me. I don't expect special treatment just because of blood relations, but it was a bit of a let-down. I suppose they still consider me strangers too.
How about you? How is your relationship with your first cousins?
Mine is good, Though 2 live in Las Vegas and i see them about once a year. The kicker is-They are brother and sister and have not actively spoken for 5 years because of a loud fight at the dinner table over something that, According to their parents was stupid. So when I travel to see them we cannot have everyone in the same room which sucks because the family is small as it is. I take the high road and just see them separate. What more can I do? Just the way it is.
We were not close as kids, and are complete strangers today. Our families were spread out, both geographically, and by age. My parents were both youngest children, and they didn't get married and have kids until later (for that time). Their siblings cranked out kids right away. So we had an age disparity in addition to a geographic separation.
I don't think I'd recognize a single one of them if I saw them today.
Related or not, I wouldn't expect special treatment from them just because we're related. It would be interesting to meet them if we somehow bumped into each other at the cocktail lounge in the airport or something (and also figured out who each other were). Aside from that, I have no desire to arrange a meet up.
Pretty close to one cousin into my 30's who was a total party buddy. Once I stopped drinking and smoking weed, I no longer got that pavlov's dog "it's party time" response when I saw him. Realized he was immature and a low life (legal problems). He also owes me $40. After leaving a vile comment on a Facebook post of mine I just deleted him and wrote him out of my life. Kinda rude considering how close we were for decades but I have no time in my life for infantile substance abusers who owe me money and won't pay it back.
I am Facebook friends with a few others from the same mother and wish we could hang out sometime but they are all so distant.
I see my cousins on my mother's side fairly frequently. They are definitely family, and I love them and their children, but I'm not sure I'd say we we are close, at least now. I was close to a couple of them when we were younger.
I haven't seen my cousins on my father's side in more than 15 years, and saw them seldom before that. There was bad blood between my father and his brother and after my father died, the brother's family wanted little to nothing to do with me. I would have liked the chance to get to know my father's relatives, but it wasn't to be.
Are they very much part of the family, closer to siblings (although rarely are they the same)?
Do you see them as just good friends?
Or are they just like strangers to you?
Do you feel any sense of loyalty to them and vice versa?
I have quite a few cousins, all over the world. They range in age from 13 to 40. The ones that live in the same city as me, I see perhaps a few times a year. We're pretty friendly, and they're definitely still 'family' (I don't like to give family a lot of 'privileges' but it's still different) but I'm not sure how they compare to good friends. I'd say it's similar to friends.
As for my other cousins, since I so rarely see them they seem like strangers to me. The times I have met them, some of them haven't acted very friendly or interested in getting to know me. I don't expect special treatment just because of blood relations, but it was a bit of a let-down. I suppose they still consider me strangers too.
How about you? How is your relationship with your first cousins?
They mean a lot. Closer than my siblings and closer than friends. many good memories of holidays etc. I love the cousin relationship. Less fraught with drama. At least in my family.
Are they very much part of the family, closer to siblings (although rarely are they the same)?
Do you see them as just good friends?
Or are they just like strangers to you?
Do you feel any sense of loyalty to them and vice versa?
I have quite a few cousins, all over the world. They range in age from 13 to 40. The ones that live in the same city as me, I see perhaps a few times a year. We're pretty friendly, and they're definitely still 'family' (I don't like to give family a lot of 'privileges' but it's still different) but I'm not sure how they compare to good friends. I'd say it's similar to friends.
As for my other cousins, since I so rarely see them they seem like strangers to me. The times I have met them, some of them haven't acted very friendly or interested in getting to know me. I don't expect special treatment just because of blood relations, but it was a bit of a let-down. I suppose they still consider me strangers too.
How about you? How is your relationship with your first cousins?
I had a bit of a falling out back in 2009 with my cousins. They and my aunt/uncle (mom's side) don't seem to recognize me as family anymore. It sort of came out of the blue; I was visiting them up in ND with my grandmother and my sister told me in the hotel room that my maternal grandparents didn't view me and my sister as equals to Mom's sister's kids because they didn't have the best relationship with my Dad (he's from the East Coast originally and might have Jewish ancestry in him. Growing up I was raised with a more 'Jewish' view of the world and I think my extended family on my Mom's side didn't really like that). Given that my maternal grandparents visited my cousins and their parents far more than they visited us (the cousins live almost twice as far from them as we did) I don't think this is unrealistic. My sister still keeps in touch with the cousins on Facebook (drama central if you ask me) for GOD knows what reason. Then again, my sister doesn't seem to be mentally there as of recent so maybe I shouldn't be too surprised.
Nothing. I have about 30 cousins but did not grow up with any of them. They all lived far away from us and we rarely saw them except maybe once a year when they came to town to see our grandparents. Once the grandparents were gone I never saw them again.
They don't mean much to me, I only see them at weddings and funerals and we have nothing in common. My adult kids only have 2 cousins who live on the other side of the country. They have only seen each other a handful of times as kids during the holidays and also have nothing in common (agnostic city kids, vs religious farm kids) and I don't expect that to change as they get older. They are all "facebook freinds" however so you never know.
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