Quality time

I got to spend time with two sweet girls tonight...my nieces! My sister called me today and said they were going to return something tonight she'd bought for Grace that didn't fit and run a couple of other errands if I wanted to hook up with them, so of course I did.

From the time Kate was a little thing, I would go to their house for dinner once a week, usually on Thursday night, then somewhere along the way, it turned into Tuesday nights. It was just something we did. It gave me GREAT time to spend with Kate each week and many times I would even put her to bed (bath, brushing teeth, reading, talking and all that entails) before I left. We had the opportunity to have such a solid base of time together during those years, then in 1999, along came Grace and after a while, things changed somewhat.

Oddly enough, Grace didn't have too much to do with me until she was about 2, so that was still great for me and Kate. I just thought that my relationship with Grace would be different...as indeed it is! I still went over once a week for dinner, after which my sister or brother-in-law would put Grace to bed, and I still had some fabulous time with Kate. As Kate is growing into a thoughtful, considerate, opinionated young woman, it thrills my soul that she still has time for her 'Aunt Dianne.' I can see that our relationship is changing a little, but she never hesitates to hug me, hang on me (although she IS as tall as I am now!), or just say, 'I love you' before we leave each other's company. Do I need to tell you how much I treasure that from a teenager?

Grace is just Grace. She's the funniest child I've ever known and she is a boss from the word 'go.' She is a helper....if you are doing anything at all, she wants to be right there helping you get it done. The days of her not wanting much to do with me are gone and she now just thrives on time with me and wants to spend the night with me all the time. Tonight was special though because this year, we've had to put some distance into my every week dinners at their house because she's got such anxieties about homework, tests, school, etc, that she just can't concentrate and get things done when I am there. I am the one that chose to put some distance there because my sister would get mad (and you know how it is when mama ain't happy!) and it just wasn't fun for anyone, so I've only seen them a little on the weekends when we've had time. It's been a little different, but fortunately, my sister has always allowed me to have as much time with them as we can possibly allow, so my relationships with them are fabulous no matter how much time we have or don't have together.

Actually, my sister had Grace tested a few months ago, maybe even last school year, and that is how they figured out her anxiety issues. She is seeing a counselor (for lack of a better word) every month or so to help give her some coping skills and the funny thing is that she comes away from that time saying, "You seem stressed....want me to tell you some ways to deal with that??" As I said, always a helper! It is so funny to hear advice like that coming from a third grader! :-)

So I say all that to say that tonight was different and fun...time with two girls who are just my heart and soul....and it doesn't get much better than that!