I wish I had the right words to properly describe how much my sister and I adored my cousins Rebecca and Rachel when we were younger. Our Chicago cousins, as we called them, only came to New Jersey for Thanksgiving so visits with them were few and far between. While some kids counted down the days until Christmas, we counted down the days until Rebecca and Rachel came to visit.
From the day after Halloween through the rest of November, we pestered my mom with, “How many more days until we see Becky and Rachel?” and “What time are we leaving our house on Thanksgiving morning?” followed by my mom insisting that while Aunt Ann and Uncle Doc wanted to see us, they certainly would mind us getting there at 8am.
Thanksgivings with them were filled with arts and crafts and elaborate (and probably plot-less) plays and musicals that we tortured older family members with. I’m pretty sure we’re all grateful that videos of these performances do not exist. As we got older Becky and Rachel were allowed to sleep over our house, which meant going to the movies or ice skating the next day. As the years went by Michelle and Anthony, their younger sister and brother, came along and we adored them just as much too. The rare summers that the Chicago cousins came out for a longer visit meant week long sleepovers at Aunt Ann’s and Uncle Doc’s that were filled with trips to the boardwalk, pretending to be gymnasts, mint chocolate chip ice cream and cheeseburgers.
As we all got older our visits became fewer and fewer as family obligations pulled us in different directions. Years that I went to Thanksgivings were sometimes Thanksgivings that they had to miss and vice versa. Their summer visits clashed with my summer study in Russia. In other words-we grew up.
Somehow the fates magically aligned. I found myself in Charlottesville as Rebecca found herself in Washington, DC. With her move came a fiancé, Will, who immediately impressed me with his kindness when I watched him help the woman who was struggling down the staircases on UVA’s campus. He ran forward and grabbed her overstuffed suitcase and carried it down all three flights of stairs. Right then and there I decided he was a guy worthy of the cousin we adore so much.
A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to watch Rebecca and Will get married and the ceremony (and bride, of course) were just as beautiful and lovely as I expected. I made this video of the ceremony for family members and friends that couldn’t be there so they could experience a little of the magic that was June 19, 2010.
Rebecca & Will from jillybean on Vimeo.
Years ago, when I was just a young bean and my imagination was even more vivid than it is now, I would try to imagine what we would all be like growing up. In my mind I was convinced that we would all grow up to be cool people who did amazing things, and still enjoyed being with each other. I think we’re all well on are way, aren’t we?
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