Guest Writer Holly Nosiglia

  Hello, everyone! For those of you that don’t know me, my name is Holly Nosiglia, and I’m Mike’s cousin. Mike asked me to write a guest post for him today, and while I was very excited when he asked me, I still wasn’t quite sure what to write about. I re-read a bunch of Mike’s blog posts for inspiration before finally realizing what I wanted to write about -- I wanted to write about the man, the myth, (the cousin) Mike.
Being the younger cousin by a few years, I can proudly say that I’ve known Mike my entire life. We’re both oldest children, so over the years we’ve seen our families grow and change, thanks to my brother Cam and his brothers Andy and Danny. And while Mike occasionally took advantage of my youth and naivety (ex. burying me in the sand as a toddler), those childhood years together were the start of one of the most important friendships in my life.

As we reached our teen years, Mike and I began to have a friendship that was stronger than just being cousins who said hello and hung out together during awkward family gatherings. We began to find that we had a lot in common, especially in the field of pop-culture. Harry Potter was a bonding point for us in elementary school, but as we grew up, we began to share movies, music, and television like never before. School was crazy for me at this time in my life, but it was always a comfort to know that I had a place at the Mort family dinner table on Friday nights, where Andy would play awesome music, my Aunt Kathy would serve delicious food, and Mike would share hilarious stories with me.
Mike and I have lived so much of our lives together, and I’m so glad for that. As kids, we met Santa and trick-or-treated together. Now, we go to the movies and text each other when we can’t sleep. When I’m having a rough day at school, it always makes me smile when I get a text from him, whether it’s a deep text about the meaning of life or a simple “Hey, what’s up?”
Overall, I’m just really glad that this blog has been an outlet for Michael to share all of the amazing philosophies and insights. He’s taught me the most important lesson I’ve ever learned -- that when you’re feeling down or experiencing a terrible situation, it’s important to go and do something that makes you happy and reminds you how awesome it is to be alive. I’ve always found Mike’s honesty and hilarity to be wonderful in equal measure, and I think all of us who know him can agree that we’re lucky to know such a great guy.

Ps. Amy Poehler