A Favorite Aunt Visits Her Favorite Niece

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
My best friend, Amy, is visiting.
This coincided perfectly with my daughter, Mimi, seven, getting out of school. The two have been inseparable. It’s such a joy to listen and watch them interact. Amy doesn’t have children so she takes her responsibility of being a godmother and Mimi’s favorite “aunt” very seriously.
That means some hard core silliness, tickles, playing with stuffed animals, and chasing each other. Mimi will affectionately lay her head on Amy’s chest, while her aunt holds her close. 

The loud moments are as precious as the quiet ones.
Amy has been my closest friend since we were both eleven. To see her being as tight with my daughter as she is with me makes me enormously happy. 
Mimi has it all figured out. Amy, her husband, “Uncle Vinnie,” Maggie, her cat and Mimi’s other “aunt,” and godmother, Cal, and her family (husband and dog) will move to California so we can all be together all the time.
Amy can’t move. She likes where she lives in Washington state, she has clients and her husband has a job. Cal would love to move to California but circumstances at the moment dictate it will likely be a few years before that becomes a reality. 
I wish both lived here, too.
While Amy remains I revel in the pristine love between her and my daughter, as she delights in everything Mimi says and does. I observe this close-up and at a distance. Mimi is so easy to love. She’s a sweet girl, with a kind heart, a fun disposition, and a fast mind. 
Of course, I do enjoy that while Amy plays with Mimi I get a bit of a respite from parenting. But it is only momentarily as Mimi comes bounding over to share the love, which I love.
Mimi is my greatest gift. My absolute joy. She makes me smile. 
While children can sometimes be pains in the ass — be honest! — the vast majority of the time they are our greatest source of pleasure.
There are only has a few more days left with Amy. Mimi will treasure each one. When we take her to the airport on Saturday, my daughter will cry. The memories she will have, that all three of us will hold, shall last forever.
By Dawn Yun
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ABOUT THIS AUTHOR

Dawn Yun

Dawn Yun is the mother of The Writing Mamas, which was born in 2004 at the famed bookstore Book Passage in Corte Madera, Calif. Dawn wrote the best-selling guide, "The Joy of Outlet Shopping," was a writer on the book, "Never Pay Retail" and authored the book, "Calming Crafts: New Crafts to Inspire Your Creativity." She blogs for the San Francisco Chronicle's http://www.sfgate.com, under City Brights. She has written for "Family Fun," "USA Today," "USA Weekend," "the San Francisco Chronicle," "Wine-X," "Manhattan, Inc.," "BabyCenter" and other off-line and on-line publications. She has appeared on "Oprah," "Good Morning America," "CBS This Morning," "Lifetime," "Discovery," and "Fox News."

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