Dear Katie:

We are all people who need people, and when the only people available to us put us down once in a while, we’ll tolerate it because .. we need people. But once we figure something like this:  wait, there are such people that will not put me down? I didn’t know that, so… I don’t have to tolerate put downs so to have people in my life???

If your cousin is the only sometimes-friendly person in your life, then no cousin= no social life, then it is cousin, no matter who and what.

anita