Team Cousin

There are so many we can’t keep count. But as we get older, we need one another even more. -Boston Globe Magazine

Boston Globe Magazine

By Stacey Curran,Updated December 12, 2019, 2:17 p.m.

My cousins have attempted to compile an accurate head count of how many of us there are. Since we descend from a family of eight siblings, there are plenty, varying in age and personality. Counting cousins requires a calculator at some point, as we try to list in birth order, but eventually devolve into yelling out names and yelling over one another.

In my generation, the oldest cousin is about 20 years older than the youngest. The older cousins once baby-sat the younger ones. Somewhere along the way, the younger ones started to baby-sit the older ones’ kids. Those kids now have kids. Although we’ve attempted to tally the cousins, no one bothers to classify who is a first cousin, or a cousin once removed. We may even refer to cousins of our cousins as cousins. Some friends have been with us for so long, they are now cousin-ed too.

As much as we cultivate the cousinhood, there is one classification among the clan: membership in Cousin Team A or Cousin Team B.