Two is better than One.

We all had that friend as a child.

That friend that you spend e v e r yday with.

Licking popsicles after swinging for hours on the hammock or sipping hot chocolate with freezing little red noses as the snow falls.

At least I did. And she wasn't just a friend. She was my cousin. Is my cousin. We spent day after day planning adventure after adventure. Whether it was building forts in the playhouse, or baking extravagant meals with plastic food in the basement, we were together.

Wrapped safely in the blanket of childhood. The joys of putting on the most beautiful dress-up we'd ever seen, or the sorrows of falling off the swing and scraping our knees.

We experienced them together.

Oblivious of the real joys and sorrows of life around us. Of the world outside our bubble. But if we knew, if we really knew the who or the what or the why of life, we wouldn't have had those careless days of childhood.

We wouldn't have had a real childhood.

And for that reason we clung to each other when we caught a glimpse of the kind of sadness or fear a child shouldn't have to experience.

We clung to each other when we didn't understand what was happening.

Because that made it disappear.

Well as time went on, we grew up. And we still are. And that sadness and fear along with a thousand new emotions became real.

And we struggled.

And hurt.

Because sometimes the transition between childhood and the beginning of adulthood is hard. And hurts.

And as much as we tried to cling to each other, it got harder.

We went to different schools, made different friends, and dealt with different challenges.

But as we continued to grow, we started to realize that through all the different, there was still one thing that was the same.

Those two little girls never stopped needing each other.

Never stopped longing to make the confusion of life disappear.

Longing to be together.

And though we are again at different schools, with different friends, we are dealing with a lot of the same challenges. And we are doing it together.

Because we make time to be together. To laugh, and plan our next adventures.

Why do I bring all this up now?

Because I just spent a weekend with that friend.

My cousin.

And we put on beautiful dresses and ate an extravagant meal.

And for a moment, all the sadness and fears, all the stress and worry of real life really did disappear. Because we were together.

"Because two is better than one"