Indeed. I was told he was quite the deadbeat.
^^^about my cousin^^^
I noticed this in another thread and thought I should put the record straight about my cousin. He reads the site but I don't think he's noticed that yet, and I'd hate for him to think I've came on here badmouthing him.
I know people are only responding to things I've said about him, but I worry that I've given people the totally wrong idea about him.
He did have a problem with drugs but that seems to be mostly behind him now. He is an undianosed aspie and a lot of his problem was that he didn't handle moving away from his friends in Scotland very well, and then having to spend a lot of his time looking after his ill gran. He has put a lot of effort into sorting out his life, and mistakes he's made in the past shouldn't be held against him.
He definately isn't a deadbeat. He has a very succesfull business, and a lot of good things in his life. He is a good person, he helps anyone he can. He's helped me hugely and if it wasn't for him I don't know what state my life would be in now.
I grew up with no money, and crap parents who I have almost no contact with now. They resented the fact that I was different to other kids. My dad in particular is obsessed with being normal and fitting in. I had next to no relationship with them at all when I was growing up. I left school at 15 with no qualifications because I couldn't take the bullying.
My Dads brother (my cousins dad) is very different to my dad. They are both almost certainly undiagnosed aspies, but he is a much cooler guy. He hated the way my parents treated me, and so he and his wife treated me like their own child. They brought me on hollidays, he brought me and my cousin to the football almost every week. They were much more like parents to me than my real parents ever were, and my cousin was far more of a sibling than my sisters were.
My aunt's parents are extremely wealthy. When my cousin was young his parents started buying him derelect flats for him to renovate and rent out so that he'd always have a good income, and never have to worry about money. He made a good job of it and made a succesful business out of it.
When I was 15 I moved out of my parents and moved in with my aunt and uncle. At the time I thought I wanted to live by myself, and so for my 16th birthday my cousin bought me a rundown house in a lovely area and he renovated it with me. I lived in it for a while, but I wasn't really happy living by myself so he told me I could move in with him, and he helped me rent out my house. He knew I had no qualifications or decent job prospects, so he bought me another 2 flats to renovate and rent out so that I'd never need to struggle in life. At this time his parents were still buying more flats for him. He persuaded his parents that it would be better if they started buying flats for me instead, because I needed the help more than he did, and because he felt it would be better for me if I had a good income rather that relying on him and his parents. He also taught me how to do all the work on the flats, and was always there to give me money if things ran over budget.
I hate to even imagine what my life would be like if he hadn't helped me the way he did. At best I'd probably have went from one deadend job to another, at worst I'd probably be spending my life on benefits.
He can be an annoying bastard, and sometimes I just want to jump up and down on his head, but most folk on here have probably felt like that about their siblings at times. He's also the person I'm closest to in the world, and the person I'd find it hardest to live without. He's the only person that knows just about everything about me. He was the first person I told I was gay. When someone pisses you off it's easy to come on here and sound off, but I never meant to make him sound a bad person.
