To Begin

Dear Baby Girl,

We've already met, though you probably don't remember.  The first time I saw you, you were very tiny and sleepy--all dark curls and soft fleece snuggled into a carrier and docked on a Wal-Mart shopping cart.  It was February in Texas and I was wearing a black and white houndstooth coat.  You wore fuzzy socks and curled your perfect little pink fingers around my thumb.  Your father quickly introduced us and then left you in my care near the Customer Service desk while he went to help your mother, my best friend, find something in the store.

I had waited a long time to meet you and was a bit nervous.  You were very nonchalant about the whole thing, opening your eyes for just a moment to check me out and then going right back to sleep.  It may not have seemed like it at the time, but that was a big moment.  We meet at last.

It didn't happen the way I thought it would--you'll find life is often that way--but instead came quietly, unexpectedly, a moment of wonder in a tumultuous (look that word up) time in my personal life.  But the great relationships in our lives usually have inauspicious (look this one up too) beginnings.  It was like that when I met your mother.  When the girl with the twangy southern accent, sticker books and platform sandals walked into that run-down, screened shack we would share while working at a girl scout camp for the summer, I had no idea that she would become the best friend I would ever have.  So be on the lookout for inauspicious beginnings.  They can lead to something that shapes your whole life.

Okay, a few facts about me that you should know.  I love Jesus.  I am your God Mother and your mother's best friend.  I like chocolate.  A lot.  I take pictures and live in Illinois with a cat and a yellow hibiscus.  I am not married but might like to be someday.  Hmmm...and I like to cook.  Yes, that will do for now.

You may be wondering what these letters are about.  Well, the simple truth is this: during this season of life, God's plan has us living far from one another, though I think about you often and pour over every photo of you that your mother posts on Facebook.  There are so many things I want to share with you--adventures and stories and all the things that I've learned and continue to learn about life & living.  I know right now Bear in the Big Blue House and Barney are vastly more important than contemplating the important things in life.  But, trust me.  The day will come when you might be curious about such things.  And these letters will wait for that time.  I hope that you will find them useful and maybe a tad illuminating.  Also, that you will see how greatly you are loved.

Welcome, dearest girl, to this adventure of life!

Much Love,
Your Aunt Green

P.S. The background photo you see was taken many years ago of my Grandmother Flo, my Great Aunt Lou and their childhood best friends, Edith & Silla.