My cousin Kenny is quite a character.  When we were young, he used to get me into trouble without regret, even when I was wailing in defense.  Then he and his family moved to Brooklyn, New York the summer of 1992.  I was 8 years old.  I remember standing beside my grandparents in the garage at an hour just break of dawn, waving to the three of my cousins and my uncle and aunt as they departed from us for the second time in my life.

When I left home for college ten years later, my cousin Kenny was the only one who verbally challenged me to become my own person, to follow my own dreams even if it meant to make mistakes.  He encouraged me to be independent.  He encouraged me to fail on my own, and succeed on my own.  He told me that being practical was overrated, and that I would regret if I don’t put dreams before dollar signs.

I met Donna in 2006, the first year of what would become an annual 4th of July visit to see Kenny in Daytona Beach.  Donna would end up to be the most encouraging, #1 agent, a.k.a. Future Sister/Cousin In Law an aspiring photographer could ever ask for.  She spread my name like wildfire to the point where I couldn’t even walk into their holiday house parties without being recognized as “the amazing photographer who can make a Coca-Cola bottle look amazing”.  I digress.  I don’t think I’m that photographer, at least not yet.

The story here is… I never thought I would be so close to my cousin.  I’m the eldest of my siblings, and Kenny is like my big brother.  And even though I never admit it to him, he is one of the most influential people in my life.  He was the one who taught me how to drive in his brand new Corolla he had just gotten the day earlier.  He was the one who flew me to New York the winter of 2000 even though he was just scraping by doing work study for Embry Riddle.  He was the one who let me borrow money to cover my ass because I wanted to spend all my school loans on a puppy my freshmen year of college.

Kenny is caring, funny, considerate, and makes the corniest jokes of anyone I know.  And Donna makes him shine a million times brighter than he already is.

I’m proud to be their family.  I’m proud to say that I’ve seen them at their brightest, funniest, and corniest.  I’m proud of Donna for accepting him for all his corniness and making him a better man.  I’m proud of my cousin for living up to be the role model that he’s always been to me.

Ralph Lauren campaign.  Totally…

The real Kenny..

Click to view the slideshow.  Music by Josh Kelley.