Journal #15

         A person that I miss very much is my cousin, Lauren. She is like the big sister that I never had. She did not have her mother around when she was in high school, so my mom was kind of like her mom. Although she is almost ten years older than me, we have more in common than expected. She always tried to include me in things at family events, since I was an extremely shy kid, and did other things that big sisters do, minus the fighting. Lauren bragged about me to her friends, so when they saw me I felt like the coolest kid ever that high school kids liked me. She even gave me a nickname. Although I am not exactly fond of it, it is growing on me. She calls me Claire Bear Amadeus Mozart because I was a very artistic kid. When she graduated she moves to New Orleans to go to Tulane University. I obviously did not get to see her nearly as much as I used to. I missed her so much and felt like my best friend moved away. In order to stay in touch with her, we talk on the phone, text, email, and more recently we have become pen pals. By doing all of these things, it makes it easier to be closer to her. In our letters to each other we talk about everything, and it is fun because mail does not send as quickly as texts, so the anticipation makes it worth the wait. Every chance we get to visit her or she comes home, we make the most of. She always comes home for Christmas, and it just puts everyone in a good mood. We can share holiday traditions that we have with her, who never really got the Christmas experience that the majority of kids get to have.I cherish her visits home, and our rare visits there as much as I so that it will last until the next time we get to see each other.