sending love.

Will. William. Will Patrick.
When you arrived, time for me stood still.
It was as if the hurry, scurry, flurry disappeared
And the only thing that mattered was you.
You are here.

Your arrival was momentous for many reasons.
You are number 4 in your family.
Number 12 to my auntie count.
You were number 1 in your family for me.
Because you were the first of your siblings
At whose birth I was absent.

Will, you are a sweet bundle of perfection.
I can imagine how perfectly sweet you smell.
How your wrinkly little toes object to being washed.
How your little eyes try to make sense of this foreign world.
The love you get from your proud older siblings.

You reminded me, nephew of mine,
You made me feel the distance.
You helped me remember the tightness of sister bonds,
The one-of-a-kind inner knowing of sisterhood.
You made that truth so clear to me that I cried that day.
Cried like I haven't in a long time.
Because I miss you. Miss your mom. Your siblings.
I miss home.

Will, I send a kiss to you across these many miles.
A light kiss on your warm, smooth forehead.

Hoping it gets to you okay,
Your loving aunt