Back at the end of September, something wonderful happened…
Our niece Jessie came to live with us.
She started attending college about 45 minutes from where we live but the housing she had lined up didn’t pan out. She called us about a week after school started and asked if she could stay with us.
Although I was super excited about having her come, I felt completely and utterly unprepared to have a teen move in. Captain Cavedweller and I went from never having a child in our house to having one who’d just turned 18 and only had her driver’s license two weeks!
One of the first things we did after Jessie moved in, was sit down together and go over expectations – what she could expect from us and what we expected from her.
What I never anticipated, what came as such a welcome surprise, is what an unexpected blessing this beautiful, smart, completely awesome girl has been to us.
She is such a sweetheart, so thoughtful (she calls to let us know when she’s heading home, if her plans changed, if she’s running late), and so fun. I find myself awaiting her return each evening, eager to hear all about her adventures of the day.
I also find myself making lunches, worrying if she’s eating healthy when she skips dinner with us, and if she has enough gas money. The night she had to drive home late in a bad fog, I sat watching the clock from the moment she called to say she was on her way until I thought she should be home. Ten minutes past the time she should have arrived, I started getting really anxious. When she was twenty minutes late, I started putting on my shoes so Captain Cavedweller and I could go find her. Before we could leave, she walked in the door, relieved to be home after taking a wrong turn in the fog and having to backtrack.
When the day comes that Jessie is ready to make other housing arrangements, I’m pretty sure I’ll be a blubbering mess.
In such a short time, this girl who has always held a huge place in our hearts, now has a big place in our home. A place we both are so happy and blessed to share with her.
That’s so wonderful, Shanna!!! I’m sure she feels equally blessed to be spending time with both of you!!! I love the picture of both of you! You are two beautiful women, and I’m sure if she is anything like you, she’s just as beautiful on the inside!
Oh, Jamie! You are so, so sweet! Thank you. We are just so blessed to know this girl (and I’m so blessed by your friendship!). ❤
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So happy for you and CC. And I know that your niece is the one receiving the biggest blessing. She has two incredible roll models to look to for guidance and advise.
Great picture of the two of you.
Oh, thank you, Kathy! ❤
She is a lovely young lady , a keeper ❤️
She certainly is, Lorraine! ❤
That is so wonderful, Shanna! What a fun and wonderful blessing to receive and give.
Thank you, Jess! 🙂
Shanna you are also a blessing to her. You and Captain Cavedweller are a big blessing to her as she is to you. Now you get that little bit of a taste of what parents go through when we let that leash we want to hold them back and have to cut it and they fly free. Yes we all know that anxiety of waiting for our kids to come home and them being late. I don’t doubt that when we might move on you will feel suddenly like blubbering. That is that blessing of love for each other and kinship either as parents or aunts and uncles watching over their siblings baby birds. They do leave the nest as your siblings have seen when she left to go to college. You may even go as far as feel empty nest syndrome like parents do when all leave home. But it is brought out of love from all of you. You are a hopeless romantic but now feeling those motherly feelings.
Enjoy your time with her as long as you can.
You are both beautiful woman. You are both so blessed.
Oh, thank you for your kind, encouraging words, Dorothy! I hope she wants to live with us for a good long while, because we will miss her terribly when she does fly off to a new nest. ❤
Shanna, what a beautiful post. It’s so true – opening your home and heart to a child can be such a blessing. Whether they’re born there or come to stay for just a while, each one takes a place a in your heart – one whose size seems directly proportional to the number of nights you stay up late worrying about when they’ll get home! – and brings his or her own blessings. And good for you that you sat down to discuss expectations clearly early on – so important to remind people to do that!
Thank you for that dose of heartwarming. And happy Thanksgiving!
Thank you, Milou! Wishing you a beautiful Thanksgiving!
That is a great picture of you two and you have always loved that family and all are blessed cause you are in that family !!!!