My mom came to my room and turned on the light, to my surprise there was snow on the ground. I knew that we would not have to go to school today.


“Robert Harden! Come downstairs for breakfast” Mom says that every morning. Being from Bristol, Connecticut is great, but it is very different from living somewhere else in the United States, because of the ESPN headquarters being located here. “Dad what segment are you doing today on ESPN’s First Take production?” As dad slams the door. I was only eight years old at the time and this was going to be the first time, I was able to go outside and play in the snow with my friends from the neighborhood.


I put on my jacket and hat then my boots, and headed for the door. “Rob! Don’t forget your scarf !” My mom was always reminding me of these little things.


That same morning, my cousin, Jacob Ross woke up to a normal day in the suburban part of Macon, Georgia. There was snow on the ground there, so he had to go to school unlike me in Bristol, because of the snow on the ground outside. As I go to open the door and go outside, my phone rings and it’s Jacob. “Hello!” I visit Jacob every Cousins day, which is in November each year in Macon. Jacob visits me every Fourth of July in Bristol. “Hey Jacob where is the nearest store by your house?”


“Probably five miles away from my house Rob”, Jacob said. “Thats crazy having to drive five miles to the nearest store. I don’t live in a town where your closest neighbor could be a block or a mile away.”


For Jacob he does not know what it is like to have next door neighbor and to be able to walk to their house. I was in school one day, and the teacher caught me talking during a quiz. “Please give me your quiz and leave the room Robert Harden now” Ms. Brown said. My cousin Jacob told me on Cousins Day in November that his teacher came up to him and said, “Stop staring outside of the window and get your work.”


“Hey Jacob! In my history class we were talking about how the South was the main reason for the Civil war occurring.” He replied by saying “In my history class, we learned that the North was the main reason for the Civil war occurring.” Rob replied “That is very interesting that we are both learning something completely different about the same war.


Jacob told me that his community is very close with each other even though they live far away from each other. I said even though my neighbors live close, I still do not know everyone in my neighborhood. My neighbors are very friendly. My school system it is very different, than where he lives. In Bristol, we do not have to go to our neighborhood school, and we have the choice to apply to any of the schools in Bristol. Jacob responded “In Macon we usually just go to the school that is closest to our house, and that is just the way it is in Macon.” He also stated “The school that I go to, is the same school that my parents went to, and the same school that my grandparents went to.”



Jacob lives in Macon and I live in Bristol, but we still live in the same country, and we still shop at the same stores. Jacob and I both go to school but we probably start and finish school at different times of the year. We both have parents who care for us and work everyday. Jacob and I meet twice a year on two special holidays which are Cousins day and the Fourth of July. Overall, Jacob and I live in different places but we have very similar lifestyles.