Zackary James is another one of my many cousins. My relationship with him, however, was a surprise. A pleasant one! But a surprise nonetheless. I grew up surrounded by three girl cousins who I knew I was destined to be close with—one of them is a year older than me and the other two are a year younger. Zack is ten years younger than I am. He fascinated me when he was a baby, and annoyed the hell out of me from ages two and up. I didn’t think we’d ever really know each other.

I spent one summer living with his family in Wilton, CT. I was twenty and Zack was ten. We were pretty good at staying out of each other’s way. Toward the end of the summer, my Aunt Veronica asked me if I’d take Zack to see X-Men The Movie. I had no interest in this move whatsoever! I agreed, however, as a thank you to my Aunt Vee who was so gracious to give me her guest room for the summer. I loved the movie. LOVED IT! Who knew?! Zack and I went on and on about it afterwards. That was the beginning of our friendship and science fiction was the foundation. By the time X-Men II came out, I was living in Manhattan. Zack and a friend of his, Kyle, took the train into the city, and I treated them to the movie. Zack and I have seen all three Star Wars (prequel) movies together, all three X-Men movies, Marley and Me (we were just killing time over the holidays), and we’re psyched to see the Star Trek prequel movie coming out in May. Hey, we’re admitted dorks. We’re not in denial!

Just last month Zack turned twenty (yikes!), which means I’ll be thirty soon. No fear here. Life keeps getting better and better. Today, I’m going to write my Trekkie cousin at college and tell him I miss him and am looking forward to seeing Star Trek in May. I’ll throw in a thing or two about this being a fun albeit confusing time in his life, and it’s okay if he doesn’t have all the answers now. I’m ten years older than he is and I still don’t have all the answers! But now is a good time for him to start asking the questions. Ask questions of the Universe. Of your family. And, above all, of yourself.

Here’s the Star Trek trailer for anyone who is interested.

Live long and prosper.

April is National Card and Letter Writing Month, and I’ve vowed to write one letter each day. Also, please check out the essay contest I’m hosting with Giftin24.com.

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