Mimi Bella Boo

my oldest niece, the firstborn niece/granddaughter of the 6 girls born between my sister and i, is now 14 and officially a high school student as of today - oh, wait, that's high skool, because if you are up on your texting lingo and high school spelling, then you know that you do not type grammatically correct whatsoever - it just isn't cool! i remember leaving a wedding reception at 1 am to ride along with my parents an hour away to the hospital to wait for her to be born - only to have to camp out on the waiting room chairs throughout the long night. i was repeatedly kicked off each chair by the staff there-- did i really appear like i didn't have a place to stay or were they really just that adamant about not sleeping on their chairs while waiting for a new life to appear? i am still confused by that night. finally a little after noon the next day, and several chairs later, baylee made her entrance into this world and i became an aunt. you are forever changed when a little baby enters your life. your own worries and your own entire "self " become secondary to this new little being. over the years, i have watched her grow and have absorbed all of her ups and downs and have enjoyed taking in her life experiences as though she was my own daughter. i pride myself that i get to be the closest to her, not physically as we live miles and miles apart, but emotionally, we are connected- and i don't say "get to be" the closest loosely, because wow, teenagers are tough these days. baylee's had a tough year, with well, just being a teen and a child of a recent divorce, something that our family has never had to cope with before.

today she had her first half-day in a brand new high school in a new school distict, after having gone to a small parochial school with the same 30-some classmates since preschool. we spoke on the phone this evening, yes, actually spoke, a step up from the usual texting - she described to me what she wore, how she did her hair, curly, not flat-ironed, that her boyfriend, (also a freshman, thank goodness!) walked her to all of her classes, that her lock is actually broken on her locker but that she's ok with pretending it works because then she can not worry so much about being late to class, and carefully broke down her schedule hour by hour for me, including all of her teachers' names. and oh, that she was up until 2 am throwing up from being so nervous. i remember the excitement mixed with the anticipation of my own school days and am just stunned that 14 years have passed and baylee has entered this stage of her life. i can't count how many times i've told her to make these years the most fabulous years of her life --how do you convince a teen that these truly are the most carefree days of your life? remember when a morning was just about what you were going to wear, how much hairspray to use, and who you were going to sit with at lunch? oh, the memories.

here's to my baylee bean, a name i for sure can't call her in public at "skool," but man do i love that girl!

keep that smile on baylee ...

and laugh your silly little heart out,...

and just live, live and live some more!!