My Only Bitchy Cousin Is A Yankee-type Guy- The... May 2026

By high school, he was six feet tall, razor-thin, and had developed a vocabulary specifically designed to make you feel like a piece of lint on his blazer. He went to a boarding school in Connecticut where they apparently taught Latin, crew, and the fine art of condescension. I went to public school in Macon, where I learned how to hotwire a golf cart and make a bong out of a Gatorade bottle. We had nothing to say to each other.

His name is Bradley, but I’ve called him “Bratley” in my head since we were nine. He’s my only cousin on my mother’s side—my only cousin, period—and he is a Yankee-Type Guy. Not just a guy from the North, mind you. He’s the stereotype . The one who thinks sweet tea is an abomination, that “bless your heart” is a declaration of war, and that any temperature above 72 degrees is a personal insult from God. My Only Bitchy Cousin Is a Yankee-Type Guy- The...

Turns out, Bradley’s parents didn’t talk to him. They just sent him to schools. His whole perfectly curated, bitchy little world was a fortress he’d built because nobody at his boarding school or his empty house ever said “bless your heart” and meant I love you even though you’re being an ass. By high school, he was six feet tall,