Cousins are the pinnacle of my childhood. I was blessed with many kids my age on both sides of my family who made, and still make, each family celebration unique and memorable. Inside jokes are wonderful, but there is something special about inside jokes with your cousins.
While I love all my cousins, one of my most impressionable cousin relationships has been with my best friend, and future maid of honor, Hayleigh.
Before I tell you more about her, I should tell you why I call Hayleigh, only 14 months older than me, my ‘best cousin’.
While I want to frequently call her my best friend, it adds so much more excitement to tell people that we are actually related! While I want to frequently call her my cousin, she is so much MORE than my cousin. So began the ‘best cousin’ title.
Hayleigh and I have never lived close together. While she lived in Florida, I lived in New Jersey. While she now lives in North Carolina, I live in Allegany, NY. Our relationship has been entirely ‘long distance’. What started as twice a year chats during the summer and Christmas, soon became much more frequent.
Slowly I became worthy enough to be added to her private stories and hear stories of her high school choral group. As the years have gone on, Hayleigh now knows everything about me and vice versa. Embarrassing Bumble stories, deep family secrets that only get discussed in whispers, whatever my current Leith Ross hyperfixation is and shrimp from Lebanon, Pennsylvania — we’ve discussed it all.
I often wonder if Hayleigh knows how much I am inspired by her.
In middle school I used to pretend that I loved winter and the snow simply because it’s HER favorite weather (spoiler alert: I don’t like the cold). When I was younger, all I wanted to be was Hayleigh so I could play with her American Dolls in her cool house. Now all I want to be is someone with a fraction of Hayleigh’s mind and soul.
It’s rare to call someone “good people” and truly mean it with your entire soul. Hayleigh is good people.
Hayleigh cares about others first. She wants to understand and love others, full stop. Whether it is chatting through a problem, taking the best candid photos, or making others feel comfortable and at home, Hayleigh is simply kind.
By the time this article is posted, she will be in my senior-year home and we will be giggling about something from nine years ago. It is so exciting to see how our relationship has evolved from babies to now. We used to run around our Grammie’s house and make iMovies. This week are getting together on our own and going out on the town for Halloween. How grown up! Now that our relationship is so much more adult, we can talk about things like future career plans or the afterlife.
Hayleigh, you have changed my life. There is no one I would rather have as my best cousin.