Happy birthday to a special niece

Posted May 3, 2012 By Laurie Weir

EMC Lifestyles - My niece, Emalee, will be 15 on Friday. I remember when she was born, with black hair and dark eyes. My brother said it was like he was looking at me. I'm not sure how it's possible for him to see that, as I'm way older than him. Must have been the baby photos or something.

It doesn't seem possible that she's almost driving. OK, so she's been driving for years. Does it count the time I let her drive my Grand AM to her friend Kay's place down the road - and it was a dirt road. She was only 10. It wasn't like I sat her on a booster seat or anything. She was stretched as far as she could reach and peeked over the steering wheel.

And she's been driving the riding lawn mower since she was five... that doesn't count either, I don't think.

Water fights were fun when she was about six. She would run through the sprinkler until it dried up the well, with Jake the golden retriever chasing her heels. Then she'd insist that she and her friends have some ice cream or Freezies while sitting on a blanket... on the wet grass, Kay and Shy on either side... giggling. Girls love to giggle.

Then we built forts from those old blankets, including her Cookie Monster blanket which still has a special place in her room. Her parents bought her three of them just so she'd have one at each home she visited on weekend getaways. There was always a Cookie to snuggle.

By the time she hit the double digits, she started to hone some talents - music, baseball, art. I was impressed with the ball thing... and yes, the art thing I could claim as one of my favourites, but the music thing, that's all inherited from her dad. They should take their show on the road. No joke.

She says I embarrass her. That's my job.

She attends a local high school and when I went to cover a football game, she saw me and ran up to say hello. I'm a huggy sort, so when I stretched out my arms to give her a squeeze, she melted into a puddle and screeched. Sorry hunna, I'm gonna give you a big fat kiss on the cheek now! She was mortified. Perfect.

Now that she's almost 15, it's all I can do to fight her off when she hops in my vehicle - behind the wheel. She's as tall as me now, and doesn't need the booster seat.

She refused to drive my Yaris though, as it had a stick shift. But now that I'm in an SUV, she thinks she can rule the roost... not yet, at least until she can take me in an arm wrestling match.

Happy 15th birthday,

Emalee Faye Gwendoline Mussell Weir.

Love you long time.

Aunt Laurie

xox