Orbit,
In addition to that I told you (that you are intelligent) your writing is something. I cannot judge grammar and so on (as I am a foreigner) but there is a lot of insight and not only that, you can communicate. I mean, when I read your post, I was "seeing" you, and representing the fact, I felt like you somehow. I do not belong to your generation, still, I could identify myself with you. That is something.
Your cousin: we are not inside him and we do not know how he really feels and how this "being the golden boy" is affecting his personality.
My sister was supposed to be the golden girl and the favorite one. My brother and I felt that. Before dying from cancer, my sister told me that all that was a torment to her. She had set high standards for her she later could not achieve. She felt frustrated many times. After she got married my mom stop calling her as the best one. Somehow, because I overcame my disability, went to live overseas and got a good job, my mom started to tell people about me. I did not know until recently, that my mom was so proud of me, she never told me. in fact, my mom was quite negative and apparently cold. My mom passed away a couple of weeks ago. My father 15 years ago. Once our parents are gone we understand they were just passengers here, like us. In fact, they are more companions than anything else. Life is complicated and many parents fail including ours. At certain point we believe they are giants, but they are just simple human beings. We have to build our own lives. :-)