One More Day

This one I must dedicate to the two little girls that bring joy and light to my life, my lovely nieces Natalie and Amirah. Oh how I love being an aunt and how excited I am to meet Baby Lehman #2! They are delighted when I come to visit and absolutely enamored when I bring Mwita along, too! I love watching the concentration on Natalies face, as if playing were as complex as brain surgery. I adore the little squeaky voice that comes from Amirah as she babbles while exploring her world. Their giggles bring delight to my heart, and their smiles create an even bigger one on my face! Oh how I am in love with those two little girls. Pink skirts, baby dolls, and curls!!!

These little girls are the future, they will carry on the legacy of our family. They hold our love, but our hopes and dreams as well! How delighted I am in them, and how thankful I am they will be provided with the love and support they need to grow up strong, wise and beautiful. They are blessed, not only because of the loving parents they were gifted to, but because of the place they have to grow up! I am so thankful when I see how their parents adore them. So hopeful when I see the opportunities they will be afforded! So blessed when I see the books on their bedroom floors, and when I give them a big hug after having a check up with the doctor. I am so in love with these girls!

I feel devastated, though, that not every aunt gets to feel this way. Not every aunt is able to boast about the love and support her nieces and nephews have. Not every aunt gets to watch them come home from the doctor, vaccines given and height and weight checked. Not every aunt gets to pile her nieces on her lap and read them book after book. Not every aunt is as blessed as I.

Last week Mwita and I received some devastating news. A beautiful little friend of ours in Tanzania, about seven years old and bright as can be, will not be able to celebrate his next birthday. I cry for his family, for those that loved him, and thinking of Natalie and Amirah, I cry for his aunts, for they have been as fortunate as I. They will not longer get to watch him run off to school, look into the eyes of his mother as she bursts with pride at her beautiful son. His aunts never had to opportunity that I had to shower him with books, clothes and anything he desired. They did not have the chance to spoil him or to sneak him jelly beans when his mother wasn’t looking. They didn’t have the opportunities that I did, and now they will not. I cry because it is not fair, what if he was here, what if he had the access and opportunity that my nieces have, what if he did- he would probably be here. I cry because I loved his big smile, the dimples that graced his cheeks, and the way he bounded through the field to us to say hello. I miss hearing him scream Mwita’s name as if he were the only other person in the world, I miss that, I have missed that this last year, and I miss that I won’t get to hear that again. I miss him. I miss all that he loved, and I hate the fact that he is gone.

I’m tired of hearing about our economy, about how things “used to be.” And about how, if we just had a little more. We live in warm homes, eat plenty of food, and can buy something to treat a fever right across the road. We are BLESSED!!!! Oh how we are blessed…Please hear my heart, I am not writing to be critical, for I know for many of us, things are tough. But I write to inspire us to see the good we have around us! I’m thankful for the library that Amirah frequents that is right down the road. I am thankful for the cupboard that is stocked with Children’s Tylenol in Natalie’s house. I am thankful for the doctor that gives them the shots they need! If nothing else, may we look at the beautiful children in our lives, as they run and jump and play and thank God for giving them one more day. I’m going to give Natalie and Amirah an extra long hug the next time I see them! I am delighted to be their aunt, delighted by the opportunities they have and delighted that they are growing strong, wise and beautiful. Thank you, God, for one more day.