Faith.

Friday 13th August, 2010.

Thought my first post would be about somebody I love. That somebody, would just so happen to be my beautiful niece, Faith.

Faith will be 8 on June 15th, yet I still remember that day in 2004 that she was born, as if it were yesterday. Weird, really, seeing as I can't remember much inbetween. It seems as though she's gone from a tiny weeny little baby, to a full grown up person all in the space of about a week.

All it took was a blink of an eye, and she's gone from nappies and dummies to sleepovers and passing dancing exams - with merits and distinctions, may I add.

Faith has two younger brothers, too, Oliver and Charlie, who I also adore to pieces, no doubt about it, but with Faith, there is a different kind of bond. Maybe because we've grown up around each other, and before Oliver was born, we had 5 years of bonding, one on one.

I don't know what it is, but it's just something.. Different. We have sleepovers, and she makes me laugh until I cry, play on the Wii until every muscle in my body aches, play with her hair while she falls asleep, get her apple juice at 7am, put Good Luck Charlie on, tickle her feet, pick her up from school, bath her, cook for her, cuddle her, look after her.

Young people really are different. Their innocence is beautiful, and their lack of useful knowledge. The excitement of sitting SATs, the best friend stories that are laughable to an older person, the new sayings learned, the phase of 'boys have germs', the picking up of new habits, the fascination with the use of make up, the wanting to dress up like the people around them. The care-free days. The days before relationships, exams, jobs, friendship tests, etc. The days that nobody even remembers because they're so easy to forget. Those days that really, in retrospect, were full of nothing. Nothing important.

Faith is a big part of my life, and has shown me what it was like to be young again. I live my distant youth through her eyes, and I love every single second of it. Who cares if there are 10 years between us, she's always going to be my very best friend, because she's family. She can't turn her back on me, and I know she'll always take me for what, or even who, I am. The same way I will her, when she's older and has made up her mind who she wants to be, and what she wants to stand for.

I know she'll always make me proud, always make me giggle, and most of all, I know she'll always make me the luckiest auntie ever.

I love you, Faith.