I am Lucky!

Today I am lucky to have my young nephews with me. They came at 8 last night, headed right for the pool and swam/played/romped/hollered/laughed and used up about a hundred calories a minute while hubby and I sat and visited with their father.

These boys are special. Dan is blonde, 16, six-foot-a hundred, it seems, and a delight. When he leaves the group and heads downstairs he sings at the top of his lungs. Nice to have the sound reverberate in the house, I think. Adam has the widest grin ever and is not stingy with it. His good nature precedes him into a room. He laughs easily and smiles kindly. To love him is so easy. Noah is a card. His bright blue eyes twinkle as he tells me a tall tale, just itching for me to get the joke and giggle with him. And he loves to tease, to be the centre of attention, but not in an annoying way. These boys bubble over with joy and make me happy just to be around them.

Imagine a couple of years ago our delight when, at Simcoe Fair as we were searching for the family horses, seeing Dan running across the wide open field, hollering, "Uncle Ron, Aunt Elaine!" and, reaching us, hugging us both in his delight to see us. No sense of self-consciousness about him, just pure joy.

Or Adam, last summer when I stopped in to the summer camp at their farm, looking up from his group work, seeing it was me, and jumping up to tear over and give me a big hello hug, his eyes welcoming just as much as his "Hi, Aunt Elaine!" And all this from an 11-year-old in front of his peers!

And Noah at the sugar bush last year, seeing his two aunts get out of the car, running over to take care of us , tell us what to do, where to go, how to get food, what there was to see, what his parents and brothers were doing, and, oh, Mark is here, too, and we can get food for you free! I had to tell him I really expected to pay and the free food was only for his family because they were working there but his excitement, his willingness to share, his delight in everything around him lit up my heart and does again as I think of it.

As I write this they are off on a bike ride around the village, along with their buddy Carl from Quebec who is visiting for a while. Oops, they're back from the ride. Gotta go have fun with my nephews!