Shhsss…I Won’t Tell

My seven-year old niece (she’s turning eight in two months) came for a lightning visit yesterday with mom, my brother and sister-in-law. She embraced me tight and said, “Na miss kita Tita.” (I’ve missed you Tita). I’ve missed her too. I seldom see her but I try my best to call her over the phone at least once or twice a month. My mom needs to see a doctor so they  left her behind. While we were eating lunch she said, “Tita, alam ko na kung saan galing ang Bobic”.” referring to her nickname which I fondly gave her when she was still a baby. So I asked her how she came about it. I was laughing out loud when she said, “two words.” Then she explained that the first syllable came from the name of our dog Boo and the second one from a fat pig. I told her that the dog was not yet with us when she was born and she smiled with that all-knowing look that seems to say, “I don’t believe you Tita.”

She saw the big box which has her Ate Nissa’s wedding dress and she squealed in delight. She promised that she won’t tell that I showed it to her since she was of the belief that her Ate Nissa will get angry if she looks at what’s inside the box.  With those  saucer eyes, she shouted, “ganda”. She lovingly touched the beading of the dress and told me that it looks like her gown. She’ll be Nissa’s little bride on her wedding day and the design of her gown is quite similar to Nissa’s. She was puzzled though why there was a long train separate from the gown so I showed her how it will look attached to the gown itself. Her oohs and aahs were such that she  had us laughing so hard. The simple joys of a child. She’s now convinced that she’ll be playing a big role when her Ate gets married.

It’s another lovely Sunday. We attended the 5pm mass today, a bit late from our usual 9am mass.  It was a busy day for all of us. We even have to do our monthly groceries before going to the  church.  I met a friend whom I haven’t seen for quite a while since her family migrated to the United States. We agreed to keep in touch. It is such a joy meeting old friends.

How was your day?

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Sunday For Family

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.

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