Cousins and Cash

The summer sun was already hot when I rolled up to my cousin Keisha’s house, backpack heavy with bills and receipts. She waved me over from the porch, lemonade in hand.

“Yo, you look stressed,” she said.

“Yeah,” I admitted, sitting down. “These numbers ain’t addin’ up.”

Money problems hit different when family is involved. Not because they judge, but because love makes the stakes feel higher. You don’t just worry about yourself—you worry about how everyone else is impacted, too.

Keisha poured me some lemonade. “We gon’ figure it out. Ain’t nothin’ we can’t handle together.” Her words were simple, but her presence carried weight. Motivation doesn’t always come from inspiration—it comes from support, from knowing somebody’s in the trenches with you.

We started laying out the bills. Rent. Utilities. Phone. Car payment. Each one was a reminder of adult life I was still learning how to navigate. Research shows that discussing finances openly within families can reduce stress and improve problem-solving strategies (Conger et al.). I could feel that happening. Talking it through made the numbers less threatening.

“Look,” Keisha said, “let’s separate what gotta get paid now and what can wait. Then we gon’ see what leftover we got for groceries.” She wrote lists with clear headings. Motivation kicked in—not the push to escape, but the steady drive to act.

Hours passed. We counted cash, transferred funds, even calculated small savings. By mid-afternoon, the pile looked manageable. Not perfect, but manageable. Money is rarely perfect. It’s functional. It’s freedom in small doses.

We laughed when we realized we miscounted quarters earlier, and the tension eased. Love doesn’t always look like hugs. Sometimes it’s shared lemonade, shared laughter, shared work. Health improved too—not physical, exactly, but mental. Stress levels dropped. Heartbeats slowed. Clarity replaced anxiety.

By the time I packed my things to leave, I felt lighter. Bills still existed. Life still demanded careful planning. But I had support. I had strategy. I had love that made the numbers less frightening. Motivation, it seemed, was strongest when anchored in connection.

“See you tomorrow?” Keisha asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “We got this.”

And for the first time that week, I believed it.

Works Cited (MLA)

Conger, Rand D., et al. “Economic Stress, Coercive Family Process, and Developmental Problems of Adolescents.” Child Development, vol. 65, no. 2, 1994, pp. 541–561.