M & M

mollee excited about her new ipod

miranda wearing her cool shades

these are two of my favorite people on the planet. they are my nieces. mollee is actually my goddaughter as well. my pattern has been to go back to the midwest every 2 years or so. obviously i always expect the girls to have changed but wow, this time around i was floored. in my head i still see miranda as a toddler and mollee a few days old. i can still catch a glimpse of those days in some of their expressions...but they truly are blossoming into young ladies. 

we've all grown i guess. every trip back i enjoy more and more...not that i haven't enjoyed it in the past...it's just that there were many visits where i wasn't feeling that great. days were clouded with depression and although i wanted to be present...i only partially succeeded. 

but this trip, i was able to hang out with miranda and my sister downtown omaha. we went to lunch. miranda ordered a rich chocolate dessert. i ordered a beer. we all conversed. i could see that miranda was in the transitional phase. it was such a blast to have her with. 

mollee told me all about her wizard camp she was going to attend; she also told me about all of the greek gods and goddesses. 

getting to watch the two of them reveal what excited them was amazing in the sense that i realized they are their own person. just as i was and am. they would ask me questions about things i do with my life and i realized how similar we all are...amongst the expanse of age and gender and race...

miranda is a very talented soccer player...as is mollee. funny enough mollee tends to prefer defense while miranda generally plays a lot of offense. 

miranda still loves horses...while mollee still wants to hold my hand...

when they call me aunt emilee, i truly feel blessed. it saddens me that i don't get to see them as often. i'd love to just call up and say hey, it's friday...let's go to a movie...

or hey aunt emilee, i have a game tonight will you please come and watch? and i could be there. 

it's also been fun seeing my sister be a mom. she is 7 years older than me and i feel at times i never got to know her as well growing up. i always idolized her...not that i don't now...it's just different. 

she is a wonderful mom!

when i left home this time, i really struggled. tears started to brew. my sister and i don't say much in those moments...both trying to play tough. 

the girls however caught on...and gave me even more hugs and mollee squeezed me even tighter. 

i wasn't able to look back as they drove off...afraid of breaking down. 

it's been nearly 2 months already since i was back and i already look forward to the next time. (hopefully they can come out here too) i'm starting to realize though that i need to see my favorite m&m's more than once every 2 years.