Cousins
I have a lot of them. When I was little I had very little in common with any of them. Our parents were in some not-so-subconscious competition with each other about who was brighter/thinner/prettier/going to be more successful and I mean, how could that not permeate our direct relationships? I always felt like the black sheep and comments from some of my cousins when I was ten that went along the lines of ‘you’re not really our cousin because you’re adopted’ really only cemented my feelings of being an outsider.
So when I see the boys have an absolute blast with their cousins, it just warms the cockles of my heart.
Catching tadpoles: