When I was 16 something wonderful happened in my life, my niece was born. When I was a little girl I played dolls all day long. They were my babies. I fed them three times a day, changed diapers every two hours when I was home from school, and loved these dolls with all my heart and was insulted when someone said they were "just dolls". I admittedly played dolls until I was 14 and then I started baby sitting. This love of babies in general was nothing compared to the instant love I felt when my niece was born. She was born in the hospital that I worked in after school and boy was I proud to show her off to all my co-workers and friends. She was perfect in every way ! I got to spend so much time with her when she was a baby and toddler. She was the delight of my life . For a while my sister moved to Georgia and I thought my heart would break. I would not get to see my little neice every day, but as fate would have it, things did not work out well in the marriage and my sister and niece moved in with us. This child was by my side constantly. I took her everywhere and played with her every moment I had. She ran to me when she was hurt and I dressed her up and took hundreds of pictures of her. I will always feel a special bond with her. In life there are not many people that influence and change your life in positive ways. My own children, my siblings, my parents, grandparents, my husband and my niece. She is a wonderful young woman now and I am so proud of her. She is kind, thoughtful, smart, beautiful and knows what she wants in life.
I was thinking about her today and thought I would share about the joy this young woman has given me through the years and continues to do so. We live far apart now and I miss being part of her daily life. But we keep in touch.
She blesses me by just being who she is !
Here is my favorite picture of us together. It was taken shortly after I was married and I think she kinda resented my husband some for taking time away from her. So we included her in many of our outings and had her over to our house often. This picture was taken on a trip to Walden Pond in the fall of 1979 and I bet she still remembers the swarms of gnats that seemed to follow us the whole way around the pond.
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