It's Our Closest Ones That Get Under Our Skin

It's funny, I never imagined there would be this much death and despair in the Bible. Though I guess it is a natural part of life. Anyways, the story of Cain and Abel goes as follows. C&A were sons of Adam and Eve and were the tightest of bros. But in a twist of irony, Cain was the first human to be born and Abel was the first human to die. Cain was a crop harvester and Abel was a sheep herder. One day, God called on them to make a sacrifice for him. No having much besides what they worked for, C&A presented an offering of crops cultivated from the land and some of the first-born sheep and their fat, respectively, to The Lord. The Lord held Abel in high regard because of the bounty he presented, but such was not the case with Cain. C felt downcast but God's only consolation was that had Cain done right by him, he would not feel so downcast and jealous. This enfuriated C even more --which is actually understandable. Here he was, working hard for his crops and presenting them as an offering to God who just dismisses him and fails to see the value in his labor. Anyway, C, so mad at God, avenged his injustice by killing his own brother out in the fields. When God asks C where A is, C returns why "Am I my brother's keeper?" and God, in disbelief, curses C so that never may his crop be bountiful again.

It's a strange thing, sibling rivalry. I suppose some people consider me lucky that I am an only child, but I hardly see it that way. In middle school, I had this best friend named Mary. She had an older brother, Jimmy, only by a couple years, whom she'd fight with regularly. They would bicker and tease each other, but even in those moments when it seemed as if they only had hate for each other, I could see how dearly they loved each other. Jimmy was one of the best big brothers I have ever met. He was loyal to his sister. He treated her with respect. He didn't condescend her as an older brother might. He loved her. They had this amazing relationship that I was always jealous of. It was as if she could tell him anything and he would always be there to protect her (or scare off any creepy boyfriends. same thing really.) Anyway, after I saw their relationship, I from then on decided I wanted a big brother. Of course, that would be impossible unless we went back in time...but that would just make a big mess of things. So I just went on, incapable of changing the fact I didn't have an older brother, and because jealous of the fact other people did (funny twist of irony there. I suppose of I did have a brother, this post would probably explain how I was jealous of people who were an only child) So, this went on for a while until we went back to Bulgaria one summer. You see, I have this older cousin, Nick. God we got under each others' skin. Everyday was a struggle; I remember that we used to fight so much that our grandparents would time us a pay us if we didn't fight for a certain amount of time (I remember I raked in quite a lot of dough that summer) One day, we got into a huge fight. Over the dumbest of things, if I may say. While Nick was at school one day, I had gone on his computer and was playing The Sims (Don't judge. It was 2009. Sims was still cool.) Anyway, I had spent the entire day at the computer playing, I even remember I had my meals at the computer, until Nick came home and wanted to get on his computer to relax after a long day. However, right at that moment, I was in the middle of building a palace and my sim was about to give birth. I wasn't about to give up my computer privileges, oh no. What ensued next was a blurry mixture of crying, pig tail pulling, and door slamming. It was on a daily basis that our parents compared us to a cat and dog fighting. I remember one summer, I locked myself in a bathroom and cried because he didn't want to read my favorite book, which at the time was Twilight. Oh, middle school days...

This is me and the cuz on the right, of course at the computer, and of course doing bunny ears. The boy on the right was my childhood best friend. Take note, this time it's not The Sims, it's grand Theft Auto.

It's bittersweet that it took me until now to realize that he and I acted pretty much like siblings. His mom is my mom's sister and I've always thought that in some ways, he resembles my mom and I resemble my aunt, personality wise. Now that we're older, we don't fight much anymore. In fact, I think we get along extremely well. We respect each other and each other's space. We know how to treat each other so that we get along. Now that we both have matured, and we actually talk, we have found out we share a lot of things in common. I love my cousin, I really do. And I assume that that's how it is with all siblings. When you think about it, most fights do find their origins in love. I'm just glad, and so are our parents for that matter, that we never lived under the same roof for an extended amount of time because we probably would have torn that house apart!

So, cuz.
This one's for you.
I know you're doing great things in Scotland. Aberdeen can't even handle you.
See you next summer!