Families are Like Friends

I still cannot believe this. All of a sudden, I have relatives here. They are two my cousins and their families. My mother's sister's daughter and my mother's half brother's son. We are blood related, so to speak. But how are they different from my friends?

I am so much more used to friends, not families. Living thousands of miles away from my family for more than half of my life, I've learnt not to rely on families to solve specific problems in life. Without the concrete "give and take", love is quite abstract. I admit I am a lousy daughter and sister, terribly so. I took comfort in knowing that I am a good wife and mother. And I am an extremely loyal friend to many.

With friends, you cannot have that kind of take-it-for-granted attitude that you tend to have with families. I would vow to a friend, "I am here for you." I wouldn't expected it from a friend, even they have been doing more than their due to me. I think this is a healthy attitude that should be kept between me and people around me, blood related or not. So when my cousins came, I naturally "downgraded" them to the level of friends.

Apart from taking care of each other, people are brought together to have fun and to make sense out of life. Having cousins certainly serve the same purpose. See, last night we just had a new year's get together today at my cousin's house. A big hearty meal and a lot of fun chatting. What else?