A few months ago I had dinner out with my cousin, Kat, and her adult daughter, Janna, who were visiting from out of town. Kat lives in Sydney, Australia and Janna lives in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. So far this sounds pretty straightforward; I'm sure you had no trouble understanding that my dinner companions are part of my extended family. Except that the term "cousin" in this instance is not technically accurate; it takes a series of prefixes before the term "cousin" to present the full picture of how we are related to one another. But first let me say that however complex our family linkages are, I grew up with her and regard her as my cousin. Which would make her daughter Janna my first cousin once removed....that is, if Kat and I were your usual brand of first cousins. But we're not, so I must begin by describing how Kat and I are connected.
Kat is actually my stepfather's first cousin. But she is so much younger than he that she's much closer to my age than his. Since he was an adult when she was born (she's the daughter of his mother's much younger sister), he viewed her more as a niece than a cousin, and she grew up treating him like an uncle. So, to be accurate, I should call her my step-first-cousin-once-removed, because that's exactly what she is.
