Last modified: Saturday, March 22, 2008 3:44 PM EDT LIFE 101: When a cousin is more like a sister BY REBECCA KEISTER / STAFF WRITER You have your friends and you have your family. And then, if you're really lucky, you have your sister - the best of both. That was on a Valentine's Day card my brother and his wife gave me last year, but thinking of the words brings to mind my cousin Megan. I'm the older sister of three boys, but Megs and I are first cousins (our moms are sisters) and born just 10 months apart. (She's older, by the way!) We've been friends longer than either of us remembers actually being alive. Now she's turning 30. While she's a little frightened, I'm thrilled. And that's not because I get to see how our family embarrasses her. The most fantastic part is that she's coming home (today) to celebrate in style, and it's one of the three times a year I get to see her. See, the little bugger up and moved to Chicago a few years ago when she fell in love with an Illinois boy and I've missed her every single day since then. We were like sisters growing up, and I don't exaggerate. Our family is big on closeness and we see each other often. Megs and I were over each other's house almost every day. We were dressed in matching outfits for holidays, and had matching stuffed toy dogs and sleepovers every weekend. We have about a million pictures from starring in the same dance recitals, and I took up track in high school just to be on "her team." Of course, we also fought like sisters. A few of those sleepovers ended with middle-of-the-night phone calls to someone's mom. College separated us again, but when I moved back home after a bad break-up and with no job, it was Megs who took me everywhere, included me in everything and let me cry over nothing. It was Megs who joined me on a 10-day trip to Ireland when a friend got married, and Megs who found it in her heart not to murder me for my overplanning. Well into our mid-20s, we were still joined at the hip. When she moved to Chicago, I cried. A lot. But she was - and still is - very happy there. It helps that the Illinois boy is one of the good guys. And when I do get to see her, it's as if we never spent a day apart. We still have the same connection, the same jokes, the same easy way of totally being ourselves. Isn't that what being sisters is all about? Happy 30th birthday, Megs! You're still my favorite friend. ILY. REBECCA KEISTER can be reached at 508-236-0336 or at rkeister@thesunchronicle.com.