Written by Leona Bergstrom
Director, Re-Ignite
We are children of a common grandmother. We share a bloodline, DNA, and heritage. We are cousins.
As little children, we played while the adults talked and ate. We discovered a lot of life together. I vividly recall my older cousins teaching me the “truth” about Santa, the tooth fairy, and how babies are made. We climbed trees, played piano duets, laughed until it hurt, and periodically, we argued.
The process of growing up wasn’t easy. Some of us explored unhealthy life choices; some moved far away from home while others stayed close to parents and grandparents. We saw little of each other except on very special occasions or at a funeral. But our blood matches, so somewhere in our hearts, we always knew we could count on cousins to know us and love us.
Recently I watched my daughter reunite with her closest cousin after being apart for quite some time. They didn’t miss a beat — talking, playing, and giggling with childlike abandon. I was amazed at the strength of their bond. Timeless. A few weeks ago, my son carried his grandma’s casket to her resting place–flanked on each side by cousins. They were uniquely and remarkably connected in both ancestry and grief.
This week I texted four distant cousins, emailed two, and actually talked on the phone to two others. Grandma would be pleased to see us reconnect. Especially at a time of need.
Like others in the Baby Boomer generation, many of my cousins have cared for, lost, and buried their parents. We have all faced the same array of difficulties as others our age– illness, divorce, death, crises of faith, and financial despair. So, we look around for anchors, pillars of stability, threads to hold us to the past. I’m finding my cousins to be that for me. Even though we haven’t spent much time together over the past decades, I know they understand a part of me that is known to no one else. As we continue to experience the spectrum of our own journeys and life’s circumstances, it seems our relationship as cousins only becomes 
stronger.
And now, looking at our own grandchildren, I hope and pray with greater understanding and urgency that they will know the significance of the heritage they share. After all, they are cousins.
Forever.
Dedicated to Duane and Kenn
© 2022 ChurchHealth
Photos courtesy of CanStock
Reprinted 2018, Updated 2022
