How she has grown! The last time I saw her was about seven months ago when my daughter, his boyfriend and I went home to our place in the province to visit them. They came over this morning, my younger brother, sis-in-law, my seven-year old niece and Mom. It was just a lightning visit, they went back home a while ago but Mom was left behind with us.
Her name is Mae but we fondly call her Bobic. Back in December when we were at their place, she told her cousin (my daughter) that she’ll start saving for her Ate Nissa’s wedding. We had a good laugh at that but she was serious when she said, “It’s my gift to Ate Nissa.” She’s quite matured for her age and when she speaks, she sounds like a twenty year old. Since they came here to have her measurements taken for her gown, I asked her what happened to the coin bank we gave her last December and she said that it’s almost full. Her mom said,“She’s filling it with assorted coins and small paper bills which she ask daily from her Papa.” I jokingly asked her, “will you still give it to Ate Nissa?”. She just nodded and smiled at me.
Nissa wants her to be the little bride during the wedding. We were laughing out loud when she innocently asked, “Ano bang ginagawa ng little bride Ate?” So we told her she’ll be the bride’s little assistant and she’ll be wearing a similar gown like that of the bride. She is excited and gamely told us that she’ll be back before the wedding. There’s no dull moment when she is around.
I remember the first time she came into our lives, a mere one week old baby. Being the youngest in the family, our attention was focused on her. My brother and his wife officially adopted her and it took them a year to have all the legal papers in order. You might ask if there is a difference between a blood relation and an adopted member of the family, there’s nothing really because she is family to all of us. When you love a person because she is worth-loving and when you take care of her because you want her to grow up lovable and loving too, you won’t even think of whether she is legally adopted or not. Everything is the same. Someday maybe, when she is old enough to understand, she’ll learn and will get to know all about it. All the love that we could give to a beautiful and talented niece is hers, no questions asked, no compromise about it, she is loved for what she is.
Dreams And Escapes 