ABC Wednesday - Niece

My nieces are like daughters to me. I love and adore them but you don't need to be related to me for my love and adoration. Love comes easy to some of us. It is a blessing. Something no other creature feels. It is what makes us human. Love is something we feel with our whole body not just our heart.  A little over a week and a half ago, one of my nieces needed a favor. She hemmed and hawed before asking. God, I love that term, and literally that is what she did. At 15 she has a lot of weight on her shoulders but her beauty shines through in her huge heart. I remember when she was born and how much I loved her immediately. Stepping into my husband's family as his long time girlfriend, I held her as often as possible. Her tiny little hands and shock of dark hair made me love her instantly. Her warm soul, love of dresses, and watery eyes when she smiled, made me love her even more.  She spent two summers with me and I loved having her over and spending days with her. She is very deep and wears her heart on her sleeve and I worry that her huge heart is going to broken many times as she loves with her complete soul.  I know she feels how much I love her which makes sending her home a little easier because I would keep her in a heartbeat.

When I watch her and my daughter together I am shocked with how similar they are. They only get to see each other two or three times a year but it is as if they are together every day. Thankfully she has the patience of a saint because my kids drive her crazy.

The last time she was up, she said, "I feel like we are related more than through marriage!" Those words along with so many other things she has said over the years will always ring in my ears. I love and adore her.

Here are some of my favorites from her last visit.

My niece has an older sister who spent a lot of time with us this summer. Whenever she left, I would feel so sad. The relationship I have with her is much different. I feel like a mother to her but I also feel we have a beautiful friendship. She is sooo smart and ridiculously profound but down to earth that listening to her hold her own in a debate with my "wickedly smart" (her term for him) husband makes me smile. Their relationship is very special to me too. He always carried a photo of her in his wallet as she lived with him and his family while he was in high school making him love her even more as he helped raise her.

My love for my nieces and the return I feel from them, is one of my life's great joys. One of the best things about being married into my husband's family. They are my girls as much as if I had birthed them myself.

I need to take more photos of her because while spending the last 25 minutes searching I came up with nothing. She will have no choice!