A Letter to My Niece

Dear Emma,

Even though you won't be able to read this for several years (even as advanced as we all think know you are), I wanted to just say thank you. Thank you for showing a family that was incapable of showing feelings or emotion, that it was okay to let someone know that you love them. Thank you for bringing a family that seemed to be slowly moving in their own separate directions, closer than ever. Thank you for bringing a smile to my face every time I see you. Thank you for making every bad day just a little bit better for everyone around you, with just the sound of your laugh. Thank you for bringing the joy and innocence back to Christmas. Most of all, thank you for showing someone who never was able to figure out what 'love' meant, the true meaning of love.

Before you were born, our family never shared our feelings with each other. It was always just assumed that we loved each other but it was never expressed in words or actions. When you were born, it was the first time I saw my dad (your Grandpa) cry. He didn't even cry when any of his own children were born, but when he saw you for the first time he cried. Not a day goes by that my mom (your Grandma), doesn't say how much she loves you. Until you, I never once heard the words "I love you" come out of either of my brothers' mouths (your dad and uncle). Yet with you, they say it every time they are around you. Your reach doesn't end there either. As my generation has gotten older, no one seems to have any time to visit each other much. When we were young your cousins in NY and Maryland would come out every summer, but over the past couple years everyone has school or work. However, since you've been born, they've all come out to see you. Family ties that were slowly deteriorating have become strong again because you were born.

As for me, I knew the second your Uncle Brandon called me to tell me that you were being born that I would be wrapped around your finger. The first time I saw you, you weren't even the size of a loaf of bread, yet the feelings and emotions I felt when I saw you were more than I had ever experienced. One thing you should know about your Uncle Bryan, is that he has always been intrigued by human nature and how we think and feel. However, as much as he tried to discover what it meant to love someone unconditionally, he was never able to figure it out--to feel it himself. Growing up in a family that just assumed we loved one another but hesitated to express it, it was difficult to define what it meant to "love" someone. Within the first week you were born, I suddenly realized what it meant to love. To love someone unconditionally, is to love them almost more than yourself. To become sick to your stomach just at the very thought of something bad happening to them. To know that you would do absolutely anything to protect them from harm's way. It is putting their well-being in front of your own. This is what I have come to realize is true, unconditional love. It is the greatest feeling in the world, and it is what makes life worth living. Never settle for anything less.

A friend recently claimed that childbirth is far from a miracle, that it is a foul and disgusting event. She obviously doesn't know just how much you have done for me and this family, just by being born. You are the closest thing to a miracle this family will ever experience. Thank you, Emma. Thank you for coming into all of our lives and filling our hearts with the love and joy that was always slightly missing.

Love,
Your Uncle Bryan