I didn't have an older sibling to shadow and learn from, but I had cousins. Fifty six to be exact. I'm right around number 20 from the oldest, so there were several older sister figures.

Even better than an older sister, who (as an older sister, I can speak truthfully here) doesn't always want her little sisters hanging around, a cousin usually likes you. Or at least possibly likes the idea of a little sister that isn't hers.

Living nearby were cousins I idolized. I can't even begin to tell you! Two of them were teen beauty queens with a melange of hoop skirts and high heels, crowns and crinoline, rhinestones and radiance. Drying corsages ringing the edge of the mirror. Cheerleader pom-poms tossed in the corner. Home team pennants on the wall. Quintessential 1950's saddle shoes and bobby sox. A Norman Rockwell experience of my very own.

Dreams really do come true. After she'd graduated and moved to her own one-room apartment, one of them invited me, just little me, for an overnight. I spent the afternoon with her at her lifeguard job—sitting on her lap, but requested to move from time to time, so she could be sure to get “an even tan.” That evening she took me to my first ever movie—Tension at Table Rock at the Tacora Theater. And I sat between her and her date! OMG! That night sleep came slow, not for missing my own family, but for the thrill of it all.

When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. I Corinthians 13:11