I’LL TAKE A HUG

Out of the mouth of babes “I think I’ll take a hug.”

Be still my heart…let me set the scene.

Life has been incredibly busy and full and I haven’t gotten specific time to hang with my nieces and nephews like I usually do.  Actually it is not just the time of life, it has more to do with the season than anything.  We hang out every weekend all summer long playing together on the lake.  When winter rolls around, although we all love the wintertime and the snow, it just isn’t as organic to get together.

A few weekends back I chose to take time from the regular busy life, canceled a few things and headed up north to ski with some of my family and be able to have some high quality time together.  I am not a skier but when I am out on the slopes helping with the little ones, it is nearly impossible to do anything helpful strapped to my snowboard.

I bought a set of skies about 2 years ago, after not skiing for 22 years, and have been having a lot of fun with the kids out on the slopes as they learn to make turns on their own.

It was a fun filled day of skiing and each of them were eager to show Aunt E just how good they are getting…and they really are!  It is the best to be able to be with them as they are learning so much and putting pieces of their own worlds together.  I absolutely love being in the role of Aunt E.

So at the very end of the day, I was going to drive back downstate to be with Mike for the rest of the weekend.  I said my “good-byes” to all of the adults and had to hunt down a few kids to give them squeezes and kisses and one more exchange about how proud I was of their skiing.

There were a missing group tucked in a back room watching a movie together.  As I knocked on the door and entered, I found them all huddled around a little TV on the top bunk watching a movie together, a precious site in and of itself.

I said “Hey guys!  Aunt E is going to go now and I just wanted to say good-bye and tell you how great you are all getting at skiing.”

“Aunt E, where are you going?”

“I am going to be with Mike for the rest of the weekend and so I will be driving back down to our house in Frankenmuth and we will have Sunday together.”

“Awe, do you have to go?” 

“Yes guys, I want to be able to get some good sleep and wake up refreshed for Sunday back home.”

“Ok.  Well maybe we will be able to ski again some other weekend?”

“Absolutely!”

They were all tucked together and up high and so I wasn’t able to really get up to them to do much so I said “Hey, how about high fives all the way around?”

They did that and I turned around and headed for the door when Charlei chimes in and says, “Hey Aunt E?  I think I will take a hug.”   …and proceeds to climb all the way down to give me a hug.

It was the sweetest thing.  In fact I left and shed tears of gratitude during the first 30 minutes of my drive back downstate.

I am fortunate to have such an incredible family.

I am blessed and lucky to have these little one running around calling me Aunt E and caring about spending time with me.  In all of the things that I do to make a small difference in my little corner of the world, knowing that I have touched them is one of the most important things.

“I think I’ll take a hug.” from the mouth of my 7 (almost 8) year old niece.  They all mean the world to me and that phrase landed so intensely on my heart in the most beautiful way.  Thank you sweet little ones!