Cousins

Do you have cousins?  I have 42 first cousins.  Yes, that's right...42.  I have been close to so many of them through the years.  But I have one cousin with whom I stay in close contact.  Pat.  She's actually younger than me by about 3 years.  Our mothers are sisters. 

Pat lived in Germany when she was young (her dad was in the military).  I remember when she moved back to the States.  She had the most incredible wardrobe for her Barbies (made by her mom).  It was my first taste of envy. 

We were together a lot as we grew up.  Our families vacationed together a few times, we went to BMA camp together, and I was invited to their home in the Ft. Worth area one summer.  On that trip, my aunt handed me the keys to her car and told me to take Pat to the the post office.  It was a standard--and my first time to try to drive one.  I told Pat as I drove up that I was going to keep going.  She had to jump out because I didn't know if I could get the car going again.  So she did.  She came back out and I think I'd driven around the block.  And she jumped back in.  But then I had to face a hill and a stop sign.  Dadgummit!  I tried and tried to get the gas pedal and the clutch to work in tandem, but I could not get up that hill.  There were a group of good looking guys across the street watching the whole thing and dying laughing.  Pat ended up in the floorboard---she knew those guys!  And I was laughing so hard I was crying.

Pat was my right hand when Amy got married.  She decorated Amy's wedding cake and put some of the flowers together.  I would have lost my mind if she hadn't been there.

Why am I telling you all about Pat?  She called me tonight.  We've been praying together about issues that concern us both for the past few years.  And she called just to see how things were going and to let me know she cares and is praying.  I love this cousin.  And I'd post her picture...but she'd kill me.