The Few. The Proud.

Saying our see-you-laters!

You can never love your family enough.

Today, my cousin, Tyler, has left home to pursue his dream of becoming a future Marine. He'll be driving to Sacramento tonight and staying there at a hotel with the other departing Marines and his Sergeant. For three months, he'll be training harder than he ever has in Marine boot camp and drastically changing, physically and mentally.

Baby Chey & Ty

For me, family has always been my top priority. It's a value that my parents taught me while growing up. With this mindset, I have grown extremely close to my 36 first cousins, aunts, uncles, brothers, grandparents and parents. I was lucky enough to have been born into a family where support is always abundant, love is always being shared, and kindness is being shown. Two weeks ago, Tyler's family hosted a good-bye party for him and his mom's sister put a journal together for the aunts, uncles and cousins who attended to write letters to him. With teary eyes, I opened the journal and flipped to the first blank page. There are so many things that can be said, but 18 years of growing up together can't be summed up in a page. Somehow, I scrawled a heartfelt message on there saying something along the lines of "I love you very much, be safe, and persevere in times of unease."

Every day, I am amazed at how true the relationship between my family members are. Despite the wide age range, we manage to come together as a unit and in times like this, we are nothing but supportive and loving for one another. The boys wrote in Tyler's journal expressing how their feelings on a brother leaving and moving on. Our memories that we share are so precious. Our history is something that I will forever cherish. And now, we will be making history. This weekend has been a whirlwind of emotions, but it's those that are best remembered.

See you next post,

Chey

Currently listening to Live Life by Zayde Wølf