{"id":10844,"date":"2015-09-12T20:00:31","date_gmt":"2015-09-13T00:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/?p=10844"},"modified":"2015-09-12T20:00:31","modified_gmt":"2015-09-13T00:00:31","slug":"ode-to-nieces-and-nephews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2015\/09\/ode-to-nieces-and-nephews.html","title":{"rendered":"ode to nieces and nephews"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"the<\/a>
the author’s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here you have them: three of my much-loved, and absolutely\u00a0perfect<\/em>\u00a0nieces & nephews. These are my heart-sister’s daughter & son, and my niece’s husband. With them? Their beaming aunt, who is even\u00a0prouder of the adults they’ve become than\u00a0she was of their childhood projects & accomplishments.<\/p>\n

My niece, her beloved, and my nephew drove in just to see us! How cool is that? They were all together working on their grandmother’s house; they oversee her affairs. Just one of the many ways they are wonderful. Not because they have to, but because they adore their grandmother, and are just the\u00a0nicest\u00a0<\/em>folks.<\/p>\n

\"via<\/a>
via pixabay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Digression (you’ve grown to expect them, I hope? \ud83d\ude42 ): I always wanted children. I would have had four or five if I’d had money & time. In that order. I certainly would have had three if we hadn’t lost one in a miscarriage. From the time I was very small (maybe eight?), I told my mother: I\u00a0will have children<\/i>. But nowhere in my future life had I imagined how much I would love these children of other mothers. No one could have told me how precious my nieces & nephews would become.<\/p>\n

For those of you less fortunate than I am — not to have nieces & nephews? how lonely! — I am so sorry. Adopt! Become a surrogate aunt! I have those — I call them my ‘fairy godmothers.’ They are the women who inspire me: the grandmother of these three (my heart-sister’s mother, who is a total pistol of a nonagenarian!), my first poetry teacher, a woman who serves on a journal’s editorial board with me, the mother of another dear friend. They are like aunts, in their own way.<\/p>\n

Not to mention I have my own wonderful aunts — two of them still alive, for which I’m infinitely grateful. As the daughter of seven aunts (and so many great-aunts I can’t count them all), I’ve been in aunt-training for decades! It takes exceptional luck to be a good aunt — what limited skills I have in that area are both inherited & the good fortune of such great r\u00f4le models. It’s mostly about unalloyed joy in the presence of the kids (they’re\u00a0always<\/em> the kids — even as they hit their later years), and unqualified love and admiration. My nieces & nephews know that I’m their biggest fan — none of that I have to model good parenting for you<\/i> stuff…<\/p>\n

\"the<\/a>
the author’s<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

They also know that I am always head-over-heels happy to see them, and will spend as much time as they can spare talking about new jobs, partners, heartbreak, classes, papers, or what jewelry to wear to a job interview. As well as politics, \u00a0the economics of sustainable farming, film preservation, non-profits, raising kids, buying dogs, and anything else they come up with.<\/p>\n

Seriously? There are few folks\u00a0I’d rather spend time with than these incredibly witty, talented, nuanced and amazing men & women. So again: if you don’t have siblings to provide you with this joy, hustle! Surely some younger person around you could use a besotted aunt. Because believe me: the benefits are uncountable.\u00a0Your beginner’s heart will grow at\u00a0least<\/em> two sizes from loving and learning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here you have them: three of my much-loved, and absolutely\u00a0perfect\u00a0nieces & nephews. These are my heart-sister’s daughter & son, and my niece’s husband. With them? Their beaming aunt, who is even\u00a0prouder of the adults they’ve become than\u00a0she was of their childhood projects & accomplishments. My niece, her beloved, and my nephew drove in just to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":398,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1108,37,397],"tags":[67,11,1181,1187,262,1195,1281,1109],"class_list":["post-10844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aunts","category-family","category-love","tag-aunts","tag-beginners-heart","tag-britton-gildersleeve","tag-buddhism","tag-buddhist-blogs","tag-family","tag-love","tag-nieces-and-nephews"],"yoast_head":"\node to nieces and nephews - Beginner's Heart<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Here you have them: three of my much-loved, and absolutely\u00a0perfect\u00a0nieces & nephews. 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