January 15, 2004 was the day I became an aunt. I just got out of volleyball practice when my cell phone rang. I knew it was my mom calling to tell me sister had the baby because yesterday my sister was having real bad stomachaches. Nervously I answered the phone and sure enough, it was my mom saying my sister, Jamie, had the baby. She was coming to pick me up from practice and we would go straight to the hospital. I couldn’t decide whether to be happy or scared for meeting my niece for the first time.
But for curtain, I was going to love that baby no matter what. I still remember when my sister announced that she was pregnant. She brought the whole family out to dinner, and wrote things on our napkins like “ Proud Aunt or Proud Grandpa. ” Out of joy, my eyes watered and I hugged my sister and congratulated her. I counted down the months and days until her due date. Finally, the day has come and my first baby niece has arrived. She was one week early. The drive to the hospital seemed like it took a life-time.
Of course, there was tons of traffic, and we even got caught by a train. I had a lot of road rage and I wasn’t even driving. My legs couldn’t stop bouncing and my nails were about gone. My mom asked if I was hungry and wanted to stop to get something to eat. Even though I was starving after practice, I told her no because I didn’t want to waste any more time. After the longest 20 minutes of my life, we finally arrived at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn. We walked in the hospital and asked the receptionist what room my sister was in.
She told us the floor and the room number, and told us the elevators are down the hall to the right. We made it up the 5th floor and started looking for the room. Then, there it was; Room 553. My mom walked in and I followed right after her. Finally, there she was, in my sisters arms. My sister asked me if I wanted to hold my new baby niece, Rielly Marie for the first time. I went over to my sister and she placed baby Rielly in my arms. As soon as she let go, I fell in love with her right away.
Her body was so delicate, and she had the most perfect tiny nose. She was the perfect niece in my eyes. As I was rocking her back and forth, she decides to open her eyes. Her big ocean blue eyes stared at me for one second and closed again. Looking into her eyes for that short of a second felt like a life-time to me, and was the perfect ending because I had to give her back to my sister for her feeding. At that moment, I was a proud aunt of that baby but I still am of that young lady that is eight years old now.
