It’s been a while my little girl. I’ve been so busy making
these memories with you but then I wonder what would happen if I forgot. Or you
forget. Where are they stored in our memory banks? Sometimes I’ll be somewhere
as small as the grocery store and see something as insignificant as a beach
shovel in the summer isle and I can remember an entire clip of when I was five
years old at the beach with my Mom and Dad and Auntie Theresa and Uncle Buddy
in Ft. Pierce, FL. I never remembered the memory before. It was overcast and
the waves were strong. There was definitely some sort of an undercurrent
because I remember being pulled along back and forth and fighting to make it to
shore. It was hard to keep my head above water. When I finally did get to
shore, I just laid there. When I saw my Mom, it was as if nothing happened. She
didn’t go through that with me. She had no idea. It’s funny how certain things
we see can bring our memories back. Certain smells, certain situations we are
brought in to. I made this blog so that we can sit back and reminisce together
one day and as few and far between as I write in it, I hope that one day you
love it. Because I sure do love you with every ounce of my being.
We have done A LOT of things. We bought a house. A very own
home of our home. You love it so much my Nina. You ask me all the time, “can we
live in this house forever?” I always say yes and I hope that we do and I will
do everything in my power to make sure that we all live here forever. I always
want this to be our home. And as big as it feels now to you, one day when
you’re older you will walk through that door and wonder how something so big
can feel so small. It’ll still feel big inside, but it will sure look smaller
than the mansion you believe it is now. I used to think my backyard in FL was a
mansion and visiting it as an adult, it was the tiniest back yard with the
tiniest little shed I used to play school in. I used to think the Grapefruit
tree your Uncle Ryan and I used to climb was the biggest tree on earth and when
I climbed to the top of it, I could see all the way to Cuba. In reality, I
would be lucky if I saw two houses over, but to me, the skyline up there was
never ending.
We got a new puppy. You and I stopped at this doggy/puppy
place and saw this dog that looked like a miniature Miles (Pup Pup Marty and
Grammy’s old dog that howls funny and is really old). We immediately looked at
each other and said “YEP, WE ARE BRINGING HIM HOME!” I love doing those spur of
the moment things with you, BUT just know bringing animals home is a big deal
and if you aren’t planning on keeping them forever, don’t bring them home! We
named him Henry and boy was Henry a cute puppy but he drove us CRAZY! But we
love him and almost a year later, he still drives us crazy and we still love
him to death. Well maybe you and Jamie more than Molly and me. ;) Remember how
Jamie was like, “what’s that? That’s not ours, is it? Nope. We aren’t keeping
him.” Then a day later, he was, “like awwwww yeah he’s ours, we can keep him!” Now
Jamie loves him more than anyone else in the house.
Zula is still your cat. You certainly have a way with
animals like I have never seen before. Your love for them is pure and their
love for you is a rarity. Every night Molly the Dog and Zula are upstairs on your
bed sleeping with you and I’m willing to bet if Henry wasn’t a little monster
and could sit still for more than two minutes outside of his bed in his crate
at night, he would be sleeping with you too.
I’ll never forget the time we went to a haunted hayride with
Molly and Jamie near our old apartment. They had two farm dogs there. The place
was so crowded with people, you guys could have easily gotten lost from us if
we didn’t keep you close. I looked over and there you were, kneeling down with
these two dogs licking your face. I noticed these two dogs earlier that evening
with kids running after them trying to pet them and they paid no mind to
anyone. But you…for some reason… they just wanted to sit and say Hey Nina, we
know you’re good. And you are kiddo. You certainly are.
You are my favorite person in the world. I know I tell you
that all the time when I tuck you in at night and I hope you never forget it.
Love Always,
Mom
