On Saturday, July 5th 2014, my cousin got married. She was the first cousin of mine to get hitched, thus having the honorary role of being the turning point of familial change. Aka, my family is getting older.
It was a beautiful wedding. Her sister and I played music for it, and I was honored to have arranged Canon in D as well as have written an original piece of music for Carmen (the now-married cousin) to walk down the aisle to. It was an outdoor wedding and I jokingly said to Carmen, “God must be smiling on your marriage” because the weather was literally perfect.
The reception afterwards was great as well—my little brother willingly took people’s money up to Carmen and Brandon’s Honeymoon Fund (a jar on their table) just so he could watch them kiss when he dropped the money in (see the picture of the Kissing Menu).
The whole family was there, but there was a sense of growing up. This wasn’t the same as getting together at Christmas or at someone’s birthday party. We weren’t running around laughing or mixing salt into each other’s drinks to see if he or she would notice (a common practice when we were together). One of us, one of our own, one of the cousins, was getting married.
It didn’t change the fact that we teased each other and asked about each other’s lives. But the laughter and the questions were tinged with something new now. Something that said “We’re getting older now. We’re going our separate ways. We’ve had a good time.”
That made it sound so final. But in a sense, it was final. Not like we’re never going to see each other again kind of final, but the days of “the cousins” are ending. Even at the wedding, several cousins had their significant other with them. Bringing them into the sacred cousin bond.
It was a joyful day, for sure. But I can’t help feeling a little sad that the carefree days of hanging with the cousins are coming to a close. I thank God so much for the extended family He has blessed me with and I’m incredibly grateful for how He’s used them in shaping me into who I am today. I’ll look back on those younger days with fondness, but I’m approaching a new era.
In this era, God is still by my side, my family is still supporting and loving me, but one significant thing has changed. I’m older. And they’re older. And our paths are starting to split.
Mountains Waiting 
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