I was never one of those people who believed in love at a first sight. I always laughed at the idea of it until the day my nephew was born and I become an aunt for the first time. My love for him happened before he was born though. For me it was love at first sound of him. The first time I heard his heartbeat I had tears in my eyes. It was one of the most amazing things to me, one of Gods miracles. I heard the thumping of his heart and he already had mine in that very moment.
He had me wrapped from day one, and since day one he has been my adventure buddy. In October my nephew will be seven years old. It blows my mind just watching him over the years. I can still remember him being a tiny baby and holding him in my arms. Now we fish together, hike together, run together, I put him in my kayak with me, and he will even get up super early with me and go watch the sunrise. We go walk in the woods at night and catch fire flies, or chase lizards during the day. We have our down time to when sometimes all we do is snuggle on the couch and watch movies. I even help coach his t-ball team.
In all honesty, the hardest part about this incredible journey that I am about to embark on is the part where I will be leaving my family for a year. My mom was the one that broke the news to my nephew about me leaving for a year. He had all kinds of questions to ask her about it. Sometimes you just have to laugh at the way a kid’s mind works. I am sure my nephew had all kinds of antics in his mind to keep me from leaving.
Later in the day after my mom had told my nephew about me leaving she stopped by my house with my nephew to pick me up for one of his t-ball games. As soon as I get in the car my nephew says “Aunt Crystal, give me your hand.” So I stuck my hand in the back seat and didn’t think twice about it. All of a sudden I have a handcuff on my wrist, and he has the other cuff attached to the headrest in my mom’s car. I turned around and looked at him and said “what are you doing?” He has his little smirk on his face and says “now you can’t leave me.”
It was heart breaking and funny and the same time. I know he has no clue just how much I am going to miss him. I can honestly say I have tears in my eyes right now while typing this just thinking about how much I am going to miss in a years’ time. In my nephews mind I am supposed to love only him, and he will tell you that. He doesn’t want me to date or ever get married because he is afraid I will love somebody more than I will love him…and yes, one day that day will come.
It is kind of hard to explain what I am about to do to where a kid can fully grip the concept. In my nephews mind he thinks I am going to be a “nasty homeless person” because I will be living in a tent and not a house. I had to explain to him the reason why I am going is because there are people in the world who need somebody to show them love like I love him. I hope one day that one of my nephews and I adventures will be to do a mission trip so we can share God’s love with others.
