Are you close with your cousins?

[Anonymous]

I have no idea who my cousins are on one side of my family.

On the other, I see them and talk to them maybe once a year or two. Not close. No animosity or anything. They are also about 14 years younger, so we didn't grow up together. Also lived far apart.

[Anonymous]

No. I have 6 first cousins, none are local. I'm friends with one on FB. I send holiday cards to 3, but haven't seen 2 of them for probably a decade. 2 live out of the country and I haven't seen them since we were small children. However I am friends with various second cousins who live in the area.

[Anonymous]

I have so many cousins that some are probably reading this right now. I have some lovely ones, and I have some crazy ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am an only child.

My cousins are very important to me.

Ditto. I actually consider them my siblings. We are just that close and are all mid 30's to 40's now.

[Anonymous]

Close to my cousins?
No. Never was. We don't have much in common either.

[Anonymous]

I love my cousins on one side and while I don't see them often - love when I do. The other side - phpft.

[Anonymous]

Friendly via Facebook, but most live 5+ hours away (or in the west coast) so I don't see them often. I have many siblings who I am close to, and while I have many cousins, none are particularly close in age to me so wasn't close growing and I don't put a ton of effort into the relationship now. We see my husband's cousins twice a year or so, though I imagine that might lesson after his grandmother dies.

My kids are very close to their cousins though and I really hope they can maintain their relationships as adults.

[Anonymous]

Nope. I'm friends with some of them (or their wives) on FB, but we don't have much in common. I have about 20 first cousins but all are at least 3 years older or younger so I wasn't that close with any of them as kids. Plus only a handful went to college and they all live within a couple of miles of the rest of the family; I have a graduate degree and moved across country. I probably won't see any of them until my grandmother passes away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nope. I'm friends with some of them (or their wives) on FB, but we don't have much in common. I have about 20 first cousins but all are at least 3 years older or younger so I wasn't that close with any of them as kids. Plus only a handful went to college and they all live within a couple of miles of the rest of the family; I have a graduate degree and moved across country. I probably won't see any of them until my grandmother passes away.

Oh, and that's just one side of the family. On the other side my cousins are the same ages as my kids (my mom's much younger brother who is only 7 years older than me)

[Anonymous]

I have 28 first cousins. I am as close as siblings with 6 of them, regularly see about 14 more (2-3x a year and correspond online) and the last few live far away but we keep in touch online.

DH has 31 cousins. Many are close to each other but he grew up far from them and is not in regular touch outside of family events. I keep in better touch with them than he does!

[Anonymous]

Not really. Makes me sad, I'm an only child and have 10 cousins who live in the Midwest. 6 are kinda crazy though (super conservative, judgey about everyone who didn't get married at 22 and have kids right away, wouldn't even like a pic of my wedding on Facebook (at 32 after THE HORROR living with my fiancée for two years) nevertheless couldn't be bothered to rsvp to the wedding, etc). The other four I'm relatively close with, but it gets harder as we get older. There's also been some tension between our moms (sisters) in taking care of elderly grandparents, which trickles down to us. Oh well. Things I think about getting ready to have my first baby and not committed to having another.

[Anonymous]

No. Each of my parents has a sibling and neither of them ever married or had kids. So no first cousins. I have some second or third cousins who I don't see often, maybe once a year at most. They all grew up in NY while my parents moved and made a life here in D.C. Fortunately I have three siblings, though.

[Anonymous]

I have a ton of cousins and grew up near them (same county) but we still are not close. We all try to make it home for certain holidays so if we get the dates to align I will see them then; I enjoy their company when we're together but don't otherwise stay in touch or chat with them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nope. Some of them I wouldn't even know if I saw them on the street.

plus 1. Although see a couple of them maybe 1 or 2 times/year....and I am seeing a cousin in 2 weeks that I have not see in about 30 years!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have 28 first cousins. I am as close as siblings with 6 of them, regularly see about 14 more (2-3x a year and correspond online) and the last few live far away but we keep in touch online.

DH has 31 cousins. Many are close to each other but he grew up far from them and is not in regular touch outside of family events. I keep in better touch with them than he does!

You sound like my in-laws from an Asian country of origin. It's pretty nice how close they are, and our kids play together. I haven't seen my cousins much since we were kids, as we are scattered and don't even keep in touch anymore.