Auntie Up!

 Soundtrack Selection: Isn't She Lovely by Stevie Wonder

I don't know what it's like to be a parent, and I won't try to act like I do (although I had changed more disgusting diapers, burped more, screaming gassy kids and rocked more babies to sleep by 18 than the average American does in a lifetime). But there is something I have a better understanding of now that I'm Aunt Katie. I have really come to understand a little about just how much parents can love their children because until those two little girls came into my life, I never imagined I could love another person as much as I love them.

I remember the day Maggie was born. I was sitting in my office during my summer internship in DC. My brother called me to tell me she had arrived and we exchanged the typical celebratory banter. But as I hung up the phone, I had a teary moment. My brother--my silly, crazy brother Artie who at one time had over-grown sideburns, dreadlocks and slept on a waterbed--was a dad. Suddenly there was this new person in our lives who would be a part of our lives from now until forever. And when I held her for the first time, that love came over me like nothing else I had ever experienced.

I loved her as a tiny baby just as much as I love her little sis now, but the last year has been the most fun! Now, she actually knows me as opposed to me being some weird person who floats in and drinks beer with her dad. She remembers me when I'm gone and gets excited when I arrive for a visit. There are not many feelings that top walking into my brother's front door, holding out my arms and watching her run to me with a face of gleeful excitement.

Now don't get me wrong, both she and Zoe Bear have their moments. They're not perfect, nor will they ever be and that's what makes me love them even more. Because neither of them are just cute, little babies who do funny things (I mean they are but that's not why I love them). As I watch both of them grow, I see how creative, caring and sometimes, stubborn they are (hey, that stubbornness will be a valuable trait once the trials of puberty are over). I realize how great it will be to know them at 10, 20, 40 and (if I'm lucky) even 50 years old. I imagine them as the beautiful women they will grow to become. And I get to be a part of that!

And I realized that my 30-something singlehood has, yet again, brought me another priceless gift. You see as excited as I am to be a mom myself one day (one day, one day folks...let's not get ahead of ourselves), I realize I can focus all my kiddo love on them for a while. And in exchange, they get me totally to themselves: all my laughter, all my wisdom (stop laughing) and all the cabbage patch dolls and social justice-oriented kids books their little hearts desire!