Yep!! That's right - I have a niece who is a high school graduate. I can't believe it! It was truly yesterday that I sat in a Mass Communication final, wearing a beeper, the old fashioned kind that you could hear the person's voice, it was Dennis, Taylor's daddy, "come on Shelly, it's time". I had one question left to answer, flew down the isle, while the class of over 100 cheered me on. I dumped my back pack all over the floor at the front. My professor made me sit down while he gathered up my things for me. I flew out the door, ran all the way across Texas Tech campus (it's big people and I am not a runner) flew across University to the Methodist Church where I had a parking pass. Ran every light between Tech and St. Mary's hospital. Can't remember where I parked, but knew the elevators were too slow. Ran up the five flights of stairs and got to the Door of Dana's delivery room that was cracked. I had about 30 seconds to catch my breath before that beautiful little girl cried for the first time. I hit my knees.

She has always been very special to me and often referred to as my "mini me" even though she is not my kiddo. We are very much alike and enjoy alot of the same things.

She moved to Dallas to in the 2nd grade. Dana and Richard are both nurses so they had to be at work REALLY early, so Taylor was dropped off at my house, crawled in bed with me and then we got up at a more reasonable hour and got ready for school.

This was the year that in efforts to strengthen her eye sight, Taylor had to wear a patch over her eye. She looked at me with a sad, mournful face and told me she didn't want to. I sat down with her and told her that I couldn't let her go to school without it, that it was really sucky and that I was sorry she had to wear it. More importantly, I didn't want to fight about it every morning, so I told her to yell, scream, cuss, kick, do what she had to do to get it out of her system, but the patch was going on and would go on the next day, and the day after that. That precious child looked at me and said, "I can cuss?". "Yes, baby, if that's what you need to do, let it out". This cute, little girl stomped her little foot and yelled as loud as she could and with as much anger as an 8 year old can muster, "this is SHITTY!" I hugged her and told her it was shitty and then we put the patch on and she never said another word about it. Ironically, she had surgery today on that same eye to re-attach the muscles. Doing well, but sure wished I could take away the eye-sight problems for her.

I took her to school for two years and then they moved to Keller. Then I was her "Room Parent" for three years. Note to teachers - stop complaining about parents participating if you cannot be more organized than that. Sorry - I digress, but Holy Cow, I was amazed some of those teachers found their way to school everyday.

So, as you can see, my relationship with my niece goes a bit deeper than the norm. She is my baby girl and I am very proud of her. Often, our relationship reminds me of my Aunt Roxie. She has always made HUGE efforts at staying close with me and supporting me in whatever crazy plan I have going at the time. I remember spending the night with her while she still lived with Grandma. There has not been an event in my life that my Aunt Roxie has not been there, beaming at me and wishing me well.

Taylor and Austin

Austin, Roxie and TaylorTaylor and her mom

Jackson and "Tator"
Nana and Taylor (isn't this a stunning picture?)
Taylor, Austin, Dennis (Taylor's Dad) and Millie (Taylor's grandmother). Dennis and Millie drove down from Nebraska for the big celebration. It was good to see them both.
Nana and Papa and their grandchildren.
The Smith Clan
And my handsome, funny, charasmatic nephew Austin.
Jackson has also finished her first swimming lesson and something clicked for him this weekend. He just started swimming. Needs to work on bringing his head up and taking a breath and not just leaping into the pool and taking off. He thinks he is a whole lot better than he is, but doing well.

Including jumping off the diving board!

And, my sweet, handsome, funny nephew spent the weekend with us at the River. We had a blast and did lots of giggling. He too is growing into a polite, caring, young man. He is amazing with Jackson and spends lots of time with him even if he doesn't want to play that game for the 100th time. I am eager to watch him continue to grow and live up to the potential that God has given him. 16 is rough, but he will prevail!
I am blessed.