This is an exchange between my aunt and my niece, Nooney Ballooney Kristella Bella:
As Nooney gets up off the couch to help with dinner, my aunt asks, “Did you know that your ears and your nose never stop growing?”
“Uh….yeah. Ya wanna know when I learned that? Ya wanna know when I found out?”
“When?”
“Now. You just told me.”
“Juicy, how do you spell ‘juicy’?”
“Nooney, you know how…”
“Is it c-e-y or i-c-y?”
“I-C-Y.”
She says, “oh, okay”, and continues drawing out my nickname in pen.
It takes her at least 10 minutes to find the perfect personalized palette for her design. She goes through the entire box of crayons, asking me which ones I like before ever making a mark, and she only uses the ones I approve.
Man, I love that kid.
I can without a doubt say that there are no clocks ticking inside my body, biological or otherwise, but I miss so many things about my niece, especially not being able to see her as frequently as I would like. That pain is getting a little sharper every day. Almost every weekend there is some precious baby that comes into the pub for brunch. Luckily, kids and animals seem to like me, so I get some smiles, some giggles, and maybe a couple sentences depending on the age. This is not cutting it anymore.
I felt how how much I missed my family a couple weekends ago when they came to Houston for a visit. The initial arrival was a bit awkward since they decided to visit me during a super-busy hour at the pub. Frazzled was an understatement at this point, and taking pictures as I served them did not evoke any smiles on my part. Despite too many tables and continuous not so opportune photos I was overwhelmed, overwhelmed by love. Yes, love, amore, the great stuff that makes everything more okay. I want to smile and cry at the same time but a good cry, because it’s that intense and I have people who love me so much.
