On Thursday, I finally took my younger family members out to a movie. I say "finally" because I've had the intentions of making this plan actually happen for too long now. My schedule and poor prioritizing had kept me from solidifying my relationship with them.
My younger cousins, Jorge and Sofia, used to live with us since they were both born. I'm practically their older brother. I had been there for them when their parents couldn't, for whatever reason. They are the only first cousins I have from my dad's side that live roughly close to us. Their parents decided to take advantage of an opportunity to move into their own home that was associated with a new job. Since then, our families have been very distant. Their new home isn't necessarily far, it's just inconvenient to get to. I quickly felt guilt for my lack of visits and inability to make plans with them.
This Christmas was the first time our families didn't celebrate together. We saw each other briefly and that's where I thought I would seize the opportunity to make plans with my cousins to take them out to something they would really enjoy doing. I immediately thought that these kids are growing up too fast. I understood I needed to take advantage of the time I have left, before they become teenagers who are "too cool" to be seen with their older cousin. I needed to act now.
Despite miscommunication, I successfully took my cousins to see a movie. We had a fun ride there, we shared popcorn and candy, and we had some good laughs during the movie. All in all, I'd say my first attempt of reestablishing my relationship with my cousins was a success. This is just the beginning though, and our next event is already in place. We're going bowling!
Christian, this is a great post! I really liked reading about your family and your connections with your cousins. I can imagine (from this and other things) that you are a terrific older brother/cousin to Sofia and Jorge. They are lucky teenagers! A couple of suggestions for improvement as you continue your work as writer: 1) Include more details (the phrase you'll hear in English class a lot is "show, don't tell"). What movie did you go to? How was it to play the role of the kind older cousin/brother? what was it like not to celebrate Christmas together? Etc. 2) As you write more, you'll want to be even more aware about the precision of your word choices. As an English teacher, I'm picky, of course, but there are places in your blog where you are less precise than you could be. For instance, you wrote "I quickly felt guilt for my lack of visits and inability to make plans with them,” and you don’t need the word quickly here (guilt happens or not, the speed with which it happens isn’t necessarily important). You could also use more active and precise language: “I felt guilty that I couldn’t visit or make plans more often” would make a stronger impact on your reader. Again, I know that these are very fine points -- and perhaps too detailed -- but I want you to think about these issues as you move into more academic and business writing.
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