Dear Psycho Cousin

Happy birthday sweetheart!!! I hope you have a fantastical day, and that the year ahead will be filled with joy, love and happiness. I pray that God will continue to keep you safe and that you will be blessed beyond belief.

The change in you over the last 18months has been remarkable. For the first time in years we actually get along, you don't hate my guts and you're not trying to ruin my life:) Our relationship has always been a rocky one, and the only reason i ever saw or spoke to you was because we were family...i didn't have a choice. C'mon kids, go play nicely together. Oh how i hated those words when we were kids.

We were always fighting. Even though i was older, you were much larger. You bullied me mercilesly, slapping me around, poking me full of bleeding holes with pins and other sharp objects, yelling, screaming and generally abusing me.

You were the black sheep of the family. The one that nobody could stand, the one that made everybody sigh inside when it was announced that you guys were coming for a visit. You involved yourself in witchcraft, drugs and alcohol at a very early age. Causing you parents to worry and the problem with the family to become even bigger.

As i became older, it became easier to avoid you. I was away at uni, and missed a lot of the family gathering, and when i had to attend i was accepted as an adult and engaged in conversation with the various aunts and uncles.

But your dark presence increased and multiplied as the years went along. You were the unspoken family problem. The one everybody avoided talking about....the forbidden topic.

But your wild lifestyle finlly caught up with you and you landed up in a Christian rehabilitation centre after you overdosed on heroine. You spent 6 months in isolation. No family, no friends, only the staff at the centre and God. And a miracle happened. The sweetest girl emerged. Friendly, caring, loving, smiling and loving life.

I have to admit that at first i was your biggest sceptic. Not believing that you've changed. I don't think anybody blamed me, considering all the things you had done to ruin my life. But today I stand absolutely amazed! you've made it:) You've been clean for over year. No drugs, no alcohol, no nothing. I think what impressed me most of all was your willingness to ask forgiveness, to try and build up what you had broken down over the years with your abuse and hatred.

I'm so incredibly proud of you that it almost hurts:) I'm so grateful for the rebuilding of a relationship and the newfound love for a cousin.

So, happy birthday cuz! Keep your chin up sweety, no matter what happens.....you don't need to prove yourself to anyone, you've done that already, and you've passed with flying colours!

Love

Ruby