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One of the greatest things basketball has done for me is allow me to travel places and see people I don’t get to see on a regular basis. Just recently our road trip to Sacramento gave me the chance to see a lot of my family. My oldest sister Emily came down with my Mom and her son Zane and daughter Kendra as well as my other nephew Christian. This was my first opportunity to see Zane being that he was born in June right in the middle of season.
Anyway, total I have four nephews and a niece. My other nephews are Romeo and Titus. I can’t explain to you how these five children, all under the age of 5, absolutely warm my heart. The best things about kids is telling the stories about what they have said, eaten, or shoved up their noses!
Just recently when my sister Emily and my Mom drove down to pick up Christian to take him to Grandma’s and Grandpa’s house to stay for two weeks my niece Kendra decided to shove a cashew up her nose. Kendra is going to be three in January and the girl can out eat Christian who is 5. My Mom and Emily were in the front seat talking when Christian being the polite little boy he is said, “Grandma, Mimi, Kendra’s got a bloody nose.” So they pulled over to try to take care of the situation when Kendra offered up the information that she had put a peanut in her nose. Well, any nut is a peanut to Kendra, but my sister told me she shoved that cashew so far up her nose that you couldn’t even see it. So, using tweezers to perform a minor surgery my Mother extracted the cashew from Kendra’s nose, and, knowing my niece very well, I’m sure she tried to eat it.
You know how in every family there is a comedian? Well, I think of the five nieces and nephews I have so far, Romeo is by far the funniest. For a soon to be three year old in October, Romeo says the most amazing things. If you ask him how he is doing today he will pop off with something like, “Fantastic” or “Amazing” or my personal favorite, “Phenomenal”. For a three year old, his vocabulary is outstanding but this isn’t always a good thing. The younger you are the more likely you are to speak exactly what is on your mind. Romeo says the darndest things. One day, while my brother Daniel was in the bank and his wife was waiting with the two boys in the car, Romeo started to eat a piece of bubble gum when all of a sudden he blurts out, clear as day, “This s*&t’s disgusting!!!!” My personal favorite was when he used to say to his Dad, referring to my ex-boyfriend, “Daddy that man is scary!!!” Oh to be three years old again and be able to speak your mind whenever you had the urge.
My nephew Christian would have to be the compassionate caring one of the lot. Just a few days back when we were in Sacramento, Zane was crying in the back seat of the car on our way to dinner. We really couldn’t do anything to help in the front of the car but before we could try, Christian started rubbing Zane’s hands and singing him Rock-A-By-Babie. For a few moments I just sat there, not wanting to turn around and look, listening to Christian sing to his brand new cousin. And amazingly in less than thirty seconds, Zane stopped crying and Christian just kept at it. That small innocent act of compassion warmed my heart more than I have ever experienced in my 21 years.
I hope to God Christian is always as sweet and caring as he at 5. That boy leaves the cutest messages on my voice mail. He will call and tell me about soccer and school and then he will say, “I love you, beep, I love you, beep, I love you, beep.” Then he will giggle and explain that he is leaving me lots of messages. The greatest thing is that Christian has gotten me through some of my toughest days during this past three months without even knowing.
One night I was watching A Walk to Remember and I was hysterically crying my eyes out and called my sister Erin crying and laughing at the same time because I was pathetic enough to absolutely lose it over a movie. Christian got on the phone and asked me what was the matter and why was I crying? So I explained to him that I watched a sad movie and he wanted to know what it was about. I told him it is about a young girl that gets sick and dies and you will never believe what my nephew did to try to console me. He said, “Aunt TT, if the red Power Ranger died I would cry too.” I was absolutely taken aback. He understood how I was feeling and tried to make me understand that he could relate to how I was feeling. Is that not the most adorable thing in the world? I’m telling you right now, my life would never be full if I did not have these amazing five children in my life.
If there is one good thing that will come from season being over in a few short days, it will be that I will have the chance to be with my niece and nephews again. And on that note, the day of our last game against LA, I will be doing a little autograph signing at the Hard Rock Cage on Jefferson from 1-2pm. I would love to see all of you there to say good-bye and show you all how amazing you have made this past few months for me. And no worries, I will be doing a journal during the off-season as well so you will have many more chances to hear about the most recent thing that pops out of my nephew’s mouth and just what else my niece will shove up her nose!!!!
Read Kayte's earlier journal entries:
