I got to spend the day with my niece, today. We didn’t do much of consequence, just hung out, watched some TV, played some video games. We walked her dog around the block and rode bikes down to the local sushi place for lunch, just relaxing on a beautiful summer day and enjoying each others’ company.
She’s at an age now where she’s fun to have around as a friend, not just a kid. I’m not sure when that happened, or if there was ever a distinct line, but it did. She’s smart, and capable, and loves to tell and hear jokes. She’s eager to share her (admittedly brief) life experiences with you, in the sort of intricate detail that only a young mind can capture. She’s remarkably mature for her age, which isn’t a surprise, but still is so very good at being a kid that it makes you feel younger, just being around her. She’s in a beautiful place in life, after the limitations of early childhood but before the tumult of her teens, and she seems to get that more than most kids, and embrace it.
I’ve had to do more than a little travelling for work since she was born, and so missed out on spending as much time with her as I wanted for a few years. But the result has been that I appreciate afternoons like this more than maybe I would have otherwise, and I think she does too. Perhaps more than the bike races and track meets, I’ll always treasure these simple, happy pictures of my niece, and her puppy, chilling together on the couch.