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These few precious moments
Jun. 9th, 2004 03:32 pmI skipped out of work for a while to attend my niece's 8th grade graduation this morning. I almost didn't go because there was a meeting, but I decided to blow it off. It was good call. "C" was one of the speakers for her class, and she did a wonderful job--very poised and articulate. I was so proud of her.
You might know "C" from the pictures I post of her occasionally. She is always a good sport with the camera, and is really a very lovely subject. I like taking her picture.
Since she and her cousins arrived in the US almost 6 years ago, we have spent a lot of time together. As I have said before, they are the closest thing we have to kids of our own, and we love them all very much.
About a year ago, I posted something about a morning when we were all sitting around the breakfast table talking. I told them that pretty soon things would be changing, and that they would be embarrassed to hang out with us. Adopting fake names for the day would be lame. We joked around about enjoying "these few precious moments" we had left, and it kind of became the theme for the weekend.
And, as I predicted, things have changed. They still hang out with us, but spend most of the time in the computer room IM'ing their friends and whispering about boys. Most of the time when we are together, we don't really say much to each other. They will still go on walks with me, but they walk ahead. I kind of long for how it used to be--I'm not ready to be a grown-up uncle. There's a kind of bright sadness in watching kids grow up.
I do still talk with "C" though--she IM's me almost every night. Most of the time it is just "hi" and "what's up"..."nuthin", but every once in a while we will have a serious conversation. She will let me into her world a little, and share her hopes and fears with me. It is a scary ride being a teenager.
And so I got to hear her speak publicly for the first time this morning, and it was good. She told me last night that she was nervous, but I didn't see a bit of it. I had to leave early, so she didn't know I was there, but I'll tell her later. I took a picture of her at the podium.
I came back to work and did all the stuff I was supposed to do. A few minutes ago, after I had caught up, I perused my friends list. One of my lj friends wrote of his 16 year-old nephew. The boy died suddenly yesterday--a congenital heart defect. My lj friend wrote of their last time together, at the movies last week, and how the nephew had responded with a muted "yeah", after his uncle over enthused about how he enjoyed spending that time together. But I am sure his nephew had as much fun being with his uncle as the uncle had being with him.
I wanted to write more, but I am having a hard time seeing.
These few precious moments.
You might know "C" from the pictures I post of her occasionally. She is always a good sport with the camera, and is really a very lovely subject. I like taking her picture.
Since she and her cousins arrived in the US almost 6 years ago, we have spent a lot of time together. As I have said before, they are the closest thing we have to kids of our own, and we love them all very much.
About a year ago, I posted something about a morning when we were all sitting around the breakfast table talking. I told them that pretty soon things would be changing, and that they would be embarrassed to hang out with us. Adopting fake names for the day would be lame. We joked around about enjoying "these few precious moments" we had left, and it kind of became the theme for the weekend.
And, as I predicted, things have changed. They still hang out with us, but spend most of the time in the computer room IM'ing their friends and whispering about boys. Most of the time when we are together, we don't really say much to each other. They will still go on walks with me, but they walk ahead. I kind of long for how it used to be--I'm not ready to be a grown-up uncle. There's a kind of bright sadness in watching kids grow up.
I do still talk with "C" though--she IM's me almost every night. Most of the time it is just "hi" and "what's up"..."nuthin", but every once in a while we will have a serious conversation. She will let me into her world a little, and share her hopes and fears with me. It is a scary ride being a teenager.
And so I got to hear her speak publicly for the first time this morning, and it was good. She told me last night that she was nervous, but I didn't see a bit of it. I had to leave early, so she didn't know I was there, but I'll tell her later. I took a picture of her at the podium.
I came back to work and did all the stuff I was supposed to do. A few minutes ago, after I had caught up, I perused my friends list. One of my lj friends wrote of his 16 year-old nephew. The boy died suddenly yesterday--a congenital heart defect. My lj friend wrote of their last time together, at the movies last week, and how the nephew had responded with a muted "yeah", after his uncle over enthused about how he enjoyed spending that time together. But I am sure his nephew had as much fun being with his uncle as the uncle had being with him.
I wanted to write more, but I am having a hard time seeing.
These few precious moments.
