There are many important people in my life, but the most important person would be my cousin Nathan. Nathan lives in Minnesota and I only see him every few years if lucky. When I was about 7 my mom, aunt, uncle, cousin Elaine and Russ, and I took a trip to Minnesota which was when I really got to hang out with him.

I’ll never forget when we were in the pool in the hotel. Nathan’s dad had just gotten his appendix taken out so he couldn’t do much, so he and his dad decided to come to the hotel and Nathan ended up swimming with me. When we first started swimming pretty much all we did was race until we got tired, it was nice considering both of us were on a swim team. Afterwards we would throw things and chase after them, which I didn’t think was fair since he’s so much older than me. After we got done him and his dad left, my family went to bed so we could get up early to head back to Michigan.

I hadn’t heard from Nathan until about November 2011. Him and his dad would go to every Vikings game, since they had season tickets, his dad would always end up texting me making fun of the Lions when they played each other. Once in a while Nathan would text me, but as soon as it got to winter break we talked almost everyday. Nathan is that one person I can trust no matter what, he always knows how to make me feel better when I’m having a bad day, and he’s always honest with me. Nathan has helped me more than anyone can imagine, and when no one else could, I don’t even know where I would be in life without him.