Meeting my cousin for the first time in 17 years #100day100destinations #RoamOn #travel
“Families are like roots of a tree, we grow in different directions but our roots remain as one.”
Sometimes we travel to find others, sometimes we travel to find ourselves. This past summer, I travelled to Traverse City, Michigan, a city I had never before heard of, to find a bit of both. Here’s how it happened:
My mom was especially close with her siblings, her sisters in particular. She left her siblings behind when she moved to Germany to be with my father in her early 20’s. When her older sister passed away, my mom became even closer with her younger sister who is the youngest of eight siblings. Even though she was a mother of four, to my mom she was her baby sister. I remember when my aunt visited us with her family back in the early 90’s. Her two eldest children were around my age which naturally meant we fought a LOT. My cousin and I (she is nine months older than me) fought until we’d have fistfuls of each other’s hair in our hands. We also loved one another just as fiercely. After losing my mom almost a dozen years ago, holding on to her memories became incredibly important to me. It’s been tough given that most of her family lives on the other side of the world. Over the past dozen years, our conversations have gotten fewer and further in between but there are some ties that you simply never lose.
This past summer, I logged onto Facebook one evening to see that my cousin from Pakistan had checked into Michigan. I immediately messaged her and asked if it was Michigan as in the US? As in she had crossed the ocean? As in, what the heck?! She had come for business and decided to extend her stay for a month long vacation. My cousin, with whom I had a love/beat each other up relationship was on my side of the world?! I felt a piece of my connection to my mom flutter inside of me. I knew that somehow I had to see her.
I have left my children and husband to travel for work within Canada a few times but I have never left them to travel anywhere else by myself, and never for anything non work related. Traverse City, Michigan, where she was staying is the Cherry Capital of the world (who knew!?) so prices were really high. I wanted to go so badly but couldn’t justify spending that kind of money. Fortunately I searched fares from Montreal to Traverse City Michigan so many times that eventually a third party vacation booking company sent me a 50% off coupon near the end of my cousin’s trip. Long story short, I booked a flight and hopped on a plane 48 hours later.
Next thing I knew, rather than meeting me at the hotel as we had planned, my cousin surprised me by meeting me at the airport itself. And so began 48 hours of almost non-stop talking, selfies, eating, ridiculously long walks and catching up until we felt dizzy. My heart of a writer cannot describe the depth of emotions that trip touched upon. I nose dived into an ocean of love and tranquility you can only find in a cousin. My cousin resembles my mom more than even I do and speaking with her and just being with her made me feel like I had found a piece of myself that I had lost almost a dozen years prior. I felt whole.
We walked, talked, ate copious amounts of ice cream (her favourite) and talked some more. I’d stop to take pictures of my beautiful surroundings to send to my kids and husband. Thankfully I had Rogers Roam Like Home and it only cost me $5 a day to do so. I could pick up the phone and call my kids, FaceTime my siblings with my cousin and send all the pictures/messages my heart desired while I was in the U.S. for the price of a latté. My kids got to know their auntie, and my cousin got to know my kids. Being able to do that while roaming in another country was priceless for me.
As our 48 hours neared to an end, the sadness inside of me grew. I reminded myself of one of my favourite expressions growing up, “Don’t frown because it’s over, smile because it happened.” I knew that trip would make it to the highlight reel of my life. Those super special moments that shine out as we think back over our life. It was one of those moments where I seized life by the horns, stepped outside of my comfort zone and reconnected with not only my cousin but my inner self.
I found a piece of me that was missing. I felt as if my inner puzzle had become one step closer to completion. I am so thankful for that experience and for getting to stay connected with my own kids while getting reacquainted with my cousin 17 years later. The memories we made will live with us for the rest of our lives and thankfully this time we didn’t pull each other’s hair out.
DISCLOSURE: I did not receive compensations for this post. All opinions are 100% my own.
Congrats on meeting your cousin! That is awesome!
What a lovely story. It is nice to re-connect with loved ones and see how all have grown and matured. It also doesn’t hurt that ice cream was involved. 🙂
Good to know that you met her after many years! Looks you both had fun! 🙂
Sounds like you had an amazing travel and looks a great place to visit
What a fantastic experience for you! I recently caught up with cousins I’d not seen in 10 years, so I can totally relate! Amazing experience!
Awww so happy you two finally met!!!! Looks like you had one great time doing so 🙂
I haven’t seen some of my cousins for this long, yet we live in the same state. I love hearing all about your travels and family.
What a lovely way to connect over ice cream. My cousins and I love eating ice cream, even on cold days 🙂 I’m happy to see that you and your cousin got along just fine after so many years. It’s not always easy when you’re in different parts of the world.
How exciting that must have been for you!
Sounds like you will have a lot to catch up on. I saw some of my cousins this week for the first time in 6 years.
She’s pretty! Meeting a close relative for the first time is the best.
How great that must have been to be able to take advantage of that situation! Glad you got to travel and have a great time with your cousin!
How beautiful this is and also your images are lovely and your happiness is so obvious. Just a heart warming story.
Such a beautiful quote about family and this should be an amazing experience to meet your loved ones after so many years. The pictures are quiet beautiful enough to explain the joy you have in meeting with your cousin!
Congrats on meeting! It looks like you both had lot of fun!
What a lovely reunion for the two of you. How special!
Thats great news, glad you finally met up with her and you had a nice adventure
that is very sweet of your cousin! I dont have any close cousins. everyone live so far from each other and grew up barely meeting everyone. this is a very nice story of you both! very sweet
Your cousin is as beautiful as you are! Such lovely ladies. It’s wonderful that you were able to reconnect. Rogers Roam Like Home seems like it was great for keeping in touch with your family while you were in the US.
This is so awesome. When we get to meet family that we may have not known before it is always an adventure!
Reuniting with a relative is such a great feeling. Time to reminisce the past and make memories of the present.
It is undeniable that you two were cousin. You have the same eyes and you both were gorgeous.