Pre-Reading: Tell The Wolves I'm Home

1. Despite any family issues one's family might have, everyone has one family member who is truly special to them.  Write a blog about the family member you have the most special connection with (alive or someone who has already passed).  Explain why this person is so special to you, share experiences with them, etc.

I’ve always been very close to all my cousins and my family, but I hang out with some more than others. The family member I have the most special connection with is my cousin, Ilse. We are the same age (she is only three months older than me) and I think that is one of the reasons we are so close. Another reason why we are so close is because she practically lived at my house. Her mom worked all day and my mom took care of her and her brother because she didn’t work. I am also very close to my brother and my cousin, Axel (Ilse’s brother) because they were the one’s who took care of us since they were 2 years older than us. But I am closer to Ilse because when our brothers went to play soccer with their friends they didn’t like taking us (even though Ilse is really good at it), they didn't want to deal with us so we had to stay home and we only had each other as company.

When we were younger I was even extremely shy and didn’t talk to people if I didn’t know them, so my cousin would always defend me if anyone was being mean to me. She has always been my protector and I have always been the one to support her when her parents were against her going/doing something. We have always been there for each other and she is like my sister.

I also remember that when both Ilse and Axel had a sleepover at my house we would always play tricks on our brothers and stay up late talking about our day or just random things. She is one of the few people who knows everything there is to know about me. And she is also one of the few people who is on the same level of crazy as me. When we are hanging out I can always be myself. And even though we always have disagreements we can’t stay mad at each other for long.

Ilse is so special because she can always tell how I’m feeling. But we are very alike which can be very catastrophic sometimes because we are both so stubborn and we don’t always have the same opinions on certain topics which almost always ends up in a huge argument, but like 5 minutes later we are best friends again. Even though now that we are older and live farther apart and don’t see each other as much as we used to, but she is still like my sister and is the person I am closest to.