Emmily

 

I keep thinking about Emmily. 

When we met six years ago at the wedding we hit it off great. As usual, as Jess often observes, I have a tendency to set fire to children, and Emm was no different. 

Within minutes Aaron was trying to reel her in while I just encouraged shenanigans and hilarity. Classic.

Going out there to visit, it was right after her 12th birthday, and what a joy it was to visit with her and spend time again. She opted to ride with us everywhere (to give us directions to places that we knew how to get to), and she told us all kinds of great stuff about her friends, and music she likes, and just talking to us about life. 

She told me that she's kind of lonely, and not going to school in person is hard but she's doing the best she can. 

And being the Big Sister to a newborn, there is a lot of pressure on her to help out. She rises to that challenge, and she does an amazing job. The baby responds so well to her, and she sings BTS songs to him and dances with him, and he absolutely loves it. But I could feel it, she is kind of isolated, and at 12 you need your people. 

I bought her this sweatshirt as a gift - taught her about the Maryland State Flag and how wacky it is. She loved it. When we went out to dinner that night, she wore it just to show it to me. 

Emmily wants to go to medical school and also minor in dance. I can imagine a Doctor or Physician's Assistant grooving into an exam room, beautiful red hair flying and great moves - right before asking "so why are we here today?" 

We were riding in the car over the Astoria-Megler bridge on the way to the boat, looking out the window at the Columbia river. She told me it was boring living there, and I thought how can you look out the window at this, looking east up river at the ships, the sky, the mountains, the beauty of it all, and then looking west to the Pacific, where a storm was out there, but not yet over here. 

I told her to be thankful when she can, to look at these things and realize she's actually in the thick of gorgeousness. There is nothing boring about where she lives, just where she feels. Don't blame the scenery if she feels bored. 

I'd love for her to come visit. I'll show her some of the most boring scenery she'll ever imagine and she'll go back west and suddenly awaken to the truth that it spectacular there. 

Kidding, she'll probably still think everything is boring. 

I made dinner tonight, and she loves spicy food. When we were at a restaurant she had ramen with extra spice. The chef even told the waitress to ask her if she was certain she wanted that amount of spice. And she did. We sat there, I watched her smile and sweat through the soup. And she was exceptionally proud of how she loved this soup. Tonight's dinner would have made her super happy. I'll have to remember how I made it and serve it up for her. Sweating through my own dinner it put a smile on my face. 

She's a good egg, and when Aaron said he'd give us the friends & family discount, she was surprised "oh! He called you family!" 

yes. And you are too.