Family is the most important thing...
You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them. ~Desmond Tutu
First off, due to the crazy nature of my work situation right now I haven’t had a lot of time to do a lot of reflecting so I apologize if this post feels disjointed and for it's lateness.
Family is the most important thing to me. I love my parents and my grandparents. I have a large family but am an only child, doomed to never have any nieces or nephews to spoil.
Not so much the case anymore. Let me tell you how.
T is an old family friend. She babysat me when I was little. She’d always been very close to my parents, despite the fact that she was twenty-five years younger than my father, and twenty than my mother. She’d lost her own father at a young age and her mother had been plagued with illnesses, but continued to live in our town. Whenever T would visit her mom she would often come and visit with our family as well.
We were invited to her first wedding. That was a great party! Unfortunately the marriage didn’t last. Not because they didn’t love each other, but because their job situations were so precarious.
She went on vacation with my father a few years ago to Spain. They were there for a month and came back with funny stories about how T was being picked up by balding bankers who couldn’t take no for an answer, and how dad kept getting mistaken for her father.
T got remarried two years ago in Tuscany, and my dad gave her away. Her fiancé was Irish and his mother wouldn’t travel to Canada for the wedding, but she would travel from Ireland to Italy and T and J’s Italian marriage would be recognized at home too. It was the best of both worlds. Anyway, my dad was there with them, visiting with her family and her husband’s family for seven days. My mom and I were invited, but unable to attend because we were working.
Anyway, J was amazing. He was absolutely perfect for T, and so nine months after their wedding little baby boy R was born.
He was darling. I adored him from our very first meeting. I love babies anyway, but he was really special. Bright blue eyes and stunning blond hair. And so tiny.
He visited us again and again and I loved spending time with him. When he started to walk, we used to go up and down the stairs together during his visits. I would bring out the ball and we would roll it forward and backwards.
A few months ago T asked my parents if they would be R’s grandparents since her mother is quite elderly and ill, and J’s mom lives in Ireland so they don’t get to see her very often. My parents agreed.
Last weekend T called us up. My parents were out of town, but I got the message. She invited us to go to the pumpkin patch with R. I told her that the ‘rents were unavailable, but I’d love to go.
Then she said on the phone, “R is going to be so happy that his Aunt Becca is coming to the pumpkin patch.”
My heart absolutely melted.
I never thought that I would ever have a nephew.
We spent the entire morning together. Looking at tractors and ducks and dinosaurs and more tractors. (He likes tractors, okay?)
Our pumpkin patch is pretty amazing. We picked out pumpkins and he held my hand and he hugged me and I melted just a little bit more each time. I loved spending the day with him.
It won’t ever matter to me that we’re not blood related. I love that little guy already.
It’s funny how quickly life can change like that. Family is what you make it.
First off, due to the crazy nature of my work situation right now I haven’t had a lot of time to do a lot of reflecting so I apologize if this post feels disjointed and for it's lateness.
Family is the most important thing to me. I love my parents and my grandparents. I have a large family but am an only child, doomed to never have any nieces or nephews to spoil.
Not so much the case anymore. Let me tell you how.
T is an old family friend. She babysat me when I was little. She’d always been very close to my parents, despite the fact that she was twenty-five years younger than my father, and twenty than my mother. She’d lost her own father at a young age and her mother had been plagued with illnesses, but continued to live in our town. Whenever T would visit her mom she would often come and visit with our family as well.
We were invited to her first wedding. That was a great party! Unfortunately the marriage didn’t last. Not because they didn’t love each other, but because their job situations were so precarious.
She went on vacation with my father a few years ago to Spain. They were there for a month and came back with funny stories about how T was being picked up by balding bankers who couldn’t take no for an answer, and how dad kept getting mistaken for her father.
T got remarried two years ago in Tuscany, and my dad gave her away. Her fiancé was Irish and his mother wouldn’t travel to Canada for the wedding, but she would travel from Ireland to Italy and T and J’s Italian marriage would be recognized at home too. It was the best of both worlds. Anyway, my dad was there with them, visiting with her family and her husband’s family for seven days. My mom and I were invited, but unable to attend because we were working.
Anyway, J was amazing. He was absolutely perfect for T, and so nine months after their wedding little baby boy R was born.
He was darling. I adored him from our very first meeting. I love babies anyway, but he was really special. Bright blue eyes and stunning blond hair. And so tiny.
He visited us again and again and I loved spending time with him. When he started to walk, we used to go up and down the stairs together during his visits. I would bring out the ball and we would roll it forward and backwards.
A few months ago T asked my parents if they would be R’s grandparents since her mother is quite elderly and ill, and J’s mom lives in Ireland so they don’t get to see her very often. My parents agreed.
Last weekend T called us up. My parents were out of town, but I got the message. She invited us to go to the pumpkin patch with R. I told her that the ‘rents were unavailable, but I’d love to go.
Then she said on the phone, “R is going to be so happy that his Aunt Becca is coming to the pumpkin patch.”
My heart absolutely melted.
I never thought that I would ever have a nephew.
We spent the entire morning together. Looking at tractors and ducks and dinosaurs and more tractors. (He likes tractors, okay?)
Our pumpkin patch is pretty amazing. We picked out pumpkins and he held my hand and he hugged me and I melted just a little bit more each time. I loved spending the day with him.
It won’t ever matter to me that we’re not blood related. I love that little guy already.
It’s funny how quickly life can change like that. Family is what you make it.