Mary Lee

Tonight Mary Lee graduates, and I will miss being there. And yes, I will cry.

What a special young lady she is. I first saw her on June 6, 1991. She was one day old, and I’d never held that new of a life. That summer when she, her mother, and her brother stayed at my parents for a few days Aunt Mary and I had fun moussing her hair. I remember she would lay in a bouncy seat on the table and just watch all the comings and going of everyone. I remember her as a cuddly thing; she was so sweet to hold then and for the next few years.

One summer at my parents when her Atlanta cousin was there as well, they would be playing on the living room floor and as I read the paper I’d say out loud, “I surely hope neither of those girls on the floor thinks about giving me a kiss because I surely wouldn’t want that.” ML would perk up and we’d wrestle around with my acting as if I didn’t want a kiss until I’d let her “win” and give me a kiss. That happened several times and then one time afterwards she sat down beside me, looked up at me with her beautiful eyes and said, “You know when you say that you really do want us to kiss you.”

ML has been very competitive, and I’ve loved playing games with her through the years. It’s always kind of tough when it goes from letting a child you love win just enough to be nice but your winning enough so that they know how to lose and that you can and will beat them to having to use all your strategy to beat them and then lose.

I also think back on making sugar cookies together. Yes, it was easier to do it alone, but I wouldn’t trade mixing dough and rolling it into balls to make the cookies.

On one of the best trips to SC ever, we happened to go to a craft store, and I found plaster ornaments in each of the categories I needed for my nieces and nephews. I bought them to paint, and Ann bought several for herself and ML to paint. We had so much fun sitting at the table. ML showed so much creativity in painting and adding textures to her ornaments. I think Ann is still very proud of the truck ornament ML painted for her father.

I love that ML always seems so pleased to see me—it makes this aunt very happy.

So tonight ML leaves a phase of life and moves onto the next. Each step of life she’s grown into a different person, and I pray that throughout college she will grow even more in the love that God has for her and pursues a life that follows Him.

I love you, Mary Lee.