My nephew laughed the day he was born. He was put in my arms and he giggled. Everyone in the room knew right then he would grow up to be a card.
A few family videos, pictures I cherish and the voice on the other end of the phone, “Hi, Aunt Amy.” After over twenty years, I never get tired of hearing his voice or seeing his face.
He’s in college now, I swear the time flew by. I would take him to the park by my house and he would stare up at this slide for the older kids and point. We would both climb up, me holding onto his tiny little body just in case he missed a step and slide down together. Then, the time came where he did it on his own. I remember standing at the bottom waiting to hold him again in my arms.
I didn’t get to have kids. God said no. But he said yes to someone even better. A nephew I could sugar up and send home. Yes, I was the aunt who shared her iced cappuccino from Dairy Queen, who bought him drums when he was two, and pretended to let the tire swing hit me so he would “cry all his tears out” laughing. Real drums. They were real drums.
This little boy is now grown and when I have a problem I can’t figure out on my own, he will strategize with me. I’m a virtual assistant so I don’t have any coworkers to bounce ideas off of. Brendan’s become my honorary coworker. Just like he did with the big kids slide, he comes up with ways to either work around a problem or climb up to the challenge. One of the nicest things he did was send me an article from Harvard, explaining how to fix a frozen shoulder. At other times he walked me through the psychology of a difficult client situation.
See. Why I am telling you this is, you blink and their grown. Don’t miss it. Let me help you by making phone calls, creating spreadsheets so you can enjoy your little ones while they are well…little. My nephew, not so little anymore. We still go on park adventures and I love his stories. His new adventure being college, buying a really cool car and working. No more slides but occasionally he will reach out for a hug, or I should say down for a hug since he towers over me. No matter. I’ll take it.
