My Cousin

This morning I helped my cousin put things into boxes. I enjoy talking to her and seeing her; she reminds me to humble myself. As I put her memories away, I notice her treasures from Vietnam and Cuba. I compliment the art on her walls and she tells me stories of her personal relationship with the artist. I ask her about the jobs that she's had in her life and she tells me that her favorite place to work was at a pizza place in San Francisco. She encourages me to visit her because she really isn't doing much at home and we can go hiking. She found a diary of hers when she was 16 and red aloud her personal entries about a crush that she had in high school and how he left her at Winter Ball because his uncle had passed away. Later on, he became a fireman and passed away too.

She gave me books to borrow because she found them interesting and I proudly took them off her hands. She made me sandwiches from focaccia bread, pastrami, Dijon, and some green leaf. It tasted organic. She talked about her future plans away from the bay area. She let me take a piece of her life with me with every question that I asked her and told me that you cant depend on others if you want to do something. She tells me about how she listens to music in the park by herself because it's too difficult to coordinate with others, but she sits and enjoys where she's at. She tells me that bad grades are something you can live with, but finding a passion is very important in life even if it takes a long time.

She tells me that she wants to get a tattoo to remind herself that she is worth everything she deserves. And she says this while petting her obedient dog who has peed on every inch of carpet she owns and that's why she needs to replace the floor. As she talks to me, I notice how beautiful she is and how she looks latino even though she's not. She tells me how she donated bone marrow and wonders what the ethnicity of her donor-ee was, but never found out because they had passed away despite her gift to them. I found an old Metro which is a weekly entertainment guide for Silicon Valley. She told me she kept it because it lists the best Vietnamese restaurants in the south bay. She gave me a warm hug when I had to go and her dog followed me out the door until she called for him.



My cousin is beautiful.