nieces and nephews

It's amazing how many titles that you take on when you marry into a new family. When I got married, I was instantly someone else's new son, grandson, brother, cousin, and uncle. The title that I love the most is uncle. On my side of the family, I don't have any nieces or nephews. But since my wedding, I now have 6 nieces and nephews on my wife's side of the family. They are quite the joy in life. On Friday night, I got to babysit one of my nieces and one of my nephews. My little two year old nephew, Edge (it's a different name but I like it), followed me around everywhere I went. It was like having a mini me in the house for a few hours. If I was on the couch watching the BYU football game and he wanted my attention, he would pull my fingers and drag me around the house wherever he wanted to go. It was fun to see his sense of wonder that he had. I tried to put myself in his shoes and see the world through his eyes and let me tell you, life is great at age two. We had some good bonding time while we were together. It's an exciting thought for me to be able to watch these kids grow up even though I'm not part of their "blood related" family.

 I was at another sister in laws house tonight for sunday dinner. They have been married for about seven years and have three kids. One of the little girls, Gracie, and I were playing on the couch together and she looked at me and said, "Anon (it's her way of saying Aaron) you're my favorite aunt!" Everyone in the room just busted up laughing. She realized what she said was wrong and changed her statement to "uncle". It was pretty funny. I may not really be her favorite uncle (or aunt for that matter), but tonight was my night to be the favorite.

Even though I've only known these kids for a short period of time, I love them like they were my own. They are just a little extra light for me and my wife to have each week when we visit them over the weekends to play. I love having them in my life because they seem to teach me new things every time I'm with them and instill within me a sense of wonder that I have seemed to have lost since being a little boy.