How many cousins do you have?

My first cousin had been living in Korea for over eight years. Then, all of a sudden, he sold everything and returned to Vietnam after his girlfriend rushed home because her father was rapidly declining from cancer.

The moment he arrived home, my uncle was stunned.

Soon after, he formally introduced his girlfriend to the family, and her family got to know his.

My uncle and my aunt then visited his girlfriend's family, and, to their surprise, her extended family was already waiting for them and explained that they hoped for an engagement ceremony immediately, given the father's critical condition(when a father is about to pass away, he often wants to know that his daughter has a good husband who will take care of her).

And then they did.

So my cousin, who had a settled life in Korea, sold everything, returned to Vietnam, got both extended families introduced, got engaged, and is now helping his fiancée take care of her father, who needs morphine every two hours.

Everything happened in less than a week.

I feel proud of him because he has been growing into a man. A man who does the right thing and knows what the right things to do are. A man who shows up for the people he loves when they need him most.

My aunt, being humble, said he isn't socially very smart. 

But we all know.

He has a good heart, and he treats the people he loves right. He's brave enough to be the one who steps up when his loved ones need help. He's sincere and is a good son, good brother, good grandson, and good cousin.

That's what matters.

If he were "socially smart" in the sense of always calculating what's best for himself, maybe he wouldn't have become the good man he is today.

I almost cried in the pool while doing my water exercises because I thought my grandpa would have been so proud.

When Grandpa passed away, there were only four of us grandchildren: me, my brother, and two first cousins.

As the eldest of all eleven cousins on my father's side, I feel the urge to watch my younger cousins grow up, and I feel reassured when they become good people and are doing well. Nobody asked me to. I just somehow, somewhat took on that feeling myself. Not that I'd ever go around bossing them, haha—that could never be the case. We are not that close; we don't share day-to-day details of our lives (or maybe not to me because i am older haha); we're more like distantly close. We can go years without talking, but when we meet or talk, we turn on family mode.

My younger cousins aren't so young anymore. There was a time when it was just me. :D

P/s: on my mother side, there are 14 of us :D

His engagement ceremony, which I wasn't able to attend because it was arranged at such short notice. Everything happened so quickly!