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I was an aunt before I was even born. Truth is, my mom blames Kerri for the fact that I am here at all. She thought she was done having babies, but being there helping with Kerri's birth did her in. Says she fell hopelessly in love with those big blue eyes and adorable fat cheeks... and along I came nine months later!
People ask me what it’s like to have a niece who is older than I am. I just shrug. I mean, most of the time I don’t think about it. Once in a while Kerri will try bossing me around because she is older. I hate it when she does that, because it doesn’t work if I turn it around and remind her that I’m the aunt and she’s the niece. It makes it kinda hard to command respect. I mean, how do you get your niece to call you Auntie Emily when she is older than you are and three inches taller? Not only am I younger, but I’m small for my age. Ugh. Double whammy. For that matter, how do you get your best friend to call you Auntie? For you see, that's what Kerri is.
We've been best friends for as long as I can remember. Even when she didn't live down the street from us it seemed like we were always together. We did everything together... even have baby brothers. She says I'm a copycat because when Ryan came along a few months after her fourth birthday, my own baby brother was born just four months later! Which means Josh was an uncle to his best bud before he was born too! Hmmm... I wonder if there’s a place in Guineas Book of Records for us!
Mom used to say I was a handful when I was little, but get Kerri and me together and watch out world! She just rolls her eyes when I ask her what she means by that. But really, doesn't every little girl borrow her mom's lipstick before she’s old enough to color inside the lines? Yeah, we probably shouldn’t have cut each other’s hair on the same day, but we were quite proud of those cherry red lipstick hearts we drew for Mom all over the mirror and dresser and wall! And doesn't every little kid try to give the puppies a bath in their mother’s bath oil? We thought we were doing great by getting all five of the squirmy little guys in Mom's bathtub at one time. It wasn't our fault they all got away and shook themselves off in every room in the house before we got the oil and shampoo rinsed off them!
Okay, maybe we were brats. But things are different now. We aren’t little kids any more. Kerri will be 15 this summer, and I’m turning 14 next week. And Kerri is moving away. Far away. Not just an hour or two away, but across the country. There’s an art school there that Mom went to when she was young. Some of the same teachers are there now, and one of them is famous for some special technique in painting. Kerri is dying to go there, and both Mom and Tammy think she should. So when Alan’s boss gave him a chance at opening a new office down east, he jumped at the chance.
I am glad for Kerri. It will be so cool for her to learn from the best art teachers around. She won’t even have to wait till high school grad to start taking lessons. Private lessons are available.
But man am I going to miss her! Mom says it’s not the end of the world, and that we can always chat and email. But it’s just not the same. How can you color each other’s hair over email? And how can you cry on someone’s shoulder in a chat? At least I know Mom knows how I feel. She’s going to miss them all something awful. She says now she knows how Grandma and Grandpa felt when she got married and moved so far away from them.
Seems kinda funny. At least I can laugh through my tears a little when I think that maybe those cherry red lipstick hearts were good for something after all.
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