My Cousin Nini

By Tess Haddad

Nicholas, better known as Nini, made life louder, funnier, and more interesting. His heart was huge, and anyone lucky enough to know him always felt that. Nini was notorious for chasing adventure and making all of our adventures that much better.

Nini was the fearless one, the adventurous one, and the witty one who always had the perfect comebacks. He was the best arguer to do it. I know, because we argued a lot… and he always won.

Nini loved the outdoors from the time we were kids. His passion for sports like snowboarding, wakesurfing, and disc golfing lit up inside him. You saw it when he played, and you heard it in his voice whenever he talked about the games.

Nini loved seeing the world and meeting new people from everywhere. He lived in West Bloomfield, Grand Rapids, Chicago, and San Diego. All the while, everyone back home in Michigan was begging him to come home. When he finally did, we couldn’t get enough of him.

His magnetic personality made him a natural at making friends. Usually, people take big trips to celebrate an achievement or milestone, but not Nini. He backpacked Europe solo while in pharmacy school and loved every second of it. He did big things to celebrate life in the moment. He never needed to wait for a big milestone or a reason “why”. He went skydiving not once, but twice. He loved the adrenaline. Nini also loved trying new things; whether experiences or foods, he was always the first to say, “Let’s do it!”.

The thing he did most fiercely was love his family and friends. Nicholas loved hard and intentionally. He loved his parents unconditionally, always checking in, always showing up. He was so proud to be their son.

Nini and his brothers, Travis and Alec, have always been inseparable. They share an unbreakable bond that not even death will destroy. Nini was the most amazing uncle and a natural with kids, babies, and even dogs. Nini loved all 28 of his cousins and all of their kids, too (way too many to count). He never let distance get in the way of connection and was never too busy for anyone. If you were his, you heard from him. His people were everything to him.

Nicholas Jamil Haddad may have left this world for the next one—the better one—far too soon, but he leaves behind an everlasting legacy and taught us how to live life to the fullest.

Nini, life won’t be nearly as good without you in it. We love you and will keep you in our hearts forever and ever.