3/16/2004: Cousins in Victim of Society

Well I know alot of people who are really close with their cousins and it makes me stop and think, how come I'm not close with my cousins? I guess it's because alot of them are so much older then me. My mom was the youngest one of her three brothers. Only one of her brothers, Gary, had kids, and he is about 15 years older then my mom. His kids are Gary Jr. and Faye. Gary Jr is about 25 and Faye is, I think, 33. Faye is a teacher and married. She lives not to far from me but is busy alot so I usually only see her when we have family get-togethers. Then there is Gary Jr. He drinks ALOT and he use to party alot and one day he met a girl named Nicki. She and him, I guess were screwing around and she ended up getting pregnent. She already had one daughter, Ivy, before she met Gary. Now both of them have a son named Cole and they got married in a little chapel in Vegas. He used to work for my dad because my dad owns a backflow business so I used to see him alot when he came by for work. But now he stopped working for him so I rarely see him. It is hard for us to have family get-togethers with everyone because Gary and Faye don't talk and their father doesn't speak to Faye at all.
Well then there is my dad's side of the family. He has one older sister and one younger sister. His older sister has a daughter, my cousin Jennifer. Her, my brother, and I used to get along really well when we were little. We were at my grandma's house alot and we would play games, make up plays, had a clubhouse, picnics, ran around in the sprinklers, you name it. But then we grew up and sorta drifted apart. Jennifer is a big-time Christian and went to a Christian high school. She became a cheerleader and a huge prep. Well, I don't really get along with preps because me and them have nothing in common so me and her just completely stopped talking. Well now she's pregnant and totally disappointed my aunt because of their moral beliefs and what not. But I feel bad for her because she is only 17. I realized she wasn't such a goody-goody as I had imagined and now I wish her and I were closer friends. I don't really know how to just start talking to her. Should I invite her to hang out some time after she has the baby and everything? (by the way she isnt keeping it) I just don't really know what exactly to say to her. All I know is that I wish me and her were friends because it would be nice to have a close cousin. Especially since she is only a year and a half older then me.