Our (Not So) Little Lady | Clare
A few weeks ago my niece celebrated her birthday. 11 years old. I can’t help but feel nostalgic about it because I love her like she was my own. I was there in the hospital waiting with the rest of the family when my sister gave birth to her and she has been a part of my life since then.
She is my eldest. Eldest pamangkin (niece/nephew in Tagalog), that is. I helped take care of her as a baby, tutored her when she started school and watched her school programs. I played with her, watched Disney shows and movies with her and listened to her stories comforted her when she needed it.
Watching her grow all these years has been a rewarding experience for me. Seeing her turn from the cute baby to the lovely young woman she is slowly starting to become, I can’t help but feel proud that I helped in part with her development. At the same time though, I can’t help but feel sad because I feel like things are going too fast and losing our baby.
Sometimes I can’t help but wish that kids would just stay kids forever. That I could keep them safe, keep them away from the world that could turn them into someone else. That things could stay the way they are. I know it’s not possible. A few more years and she will be an adult herself (and I will probably be an old lady). It makes me teary-eyed just thinking about it.
I love this girl so much and I am happy to have had the opportunity to share in her life they way I did. I hope that when she grows old that she will be just as close to me as she is today.
Just seven years more and she will be 18. Oh my goodness, I feel so old!