Dan and I as kids and probably the last time he was shorter than I am. He stands 6’5″ and I am 5’2″.

With all its faults – and there are many – Facebook can be a blessing. I haven’t seen my cousin Dan in about fifty years. I lost track of him, but was much delighted to find him again on Facebook last March. 

Dan and I were raised in the United States, but our family was from Lebanon. Our mothers were sisters. Our religious roots are Melchite (our grandfather’s side) and Maronite (our grandmother’s side).

My mother, Zabaida, used to tell me that in Lebanon first cousins were like brothers and sisters. Among other things this was one way she tried to understand what people meant when they talked or wrote about Jesus having brothers. I understood it as my relationship to my cousins, especially cousins Daniel and Christopher, who were brothers…