Miss G

As you can see from the picture below, the Ump and I recently had a visit from my brother and his family.
It was the first time that his whole family - wife Carrie and daughter Gracilyn - have visited us since we were married four years ago. Gracilyn was a little over a month old at our wedding in 2001. I don't think she remembers much about that trip.
Gracilyn was excited about visiting Aunt Cindy and Uncle Kenny because animals live in our house. Little did she know that the animals run this house - we just live here.
I loved being around Gracilyn. She is an extremely verbal child who clearly expresses her thoughts and opinions. I enjoyed trying to follow her train of thought and I discovered that she is a very logical thinker.
She hit the ground running when they arrived late Thursday night. She had already been schooled on the names of the dogs and she wanted to meet them immediately.
I thought it might be a good idea to introduce her to the dogs one at a time. First came Tip - always lead with your strongest asset. Tip recognized Scott right away and he gave Gracilyn a good sniffing before he dropped to the floor.
Next came Peanut, the latest addition. With Peanut came the explanation that he does not like little children. That's not the easiest thing to explain to a little girl who sees a toy-sized dog. His growling made it a little clearer to her and she left him alone when Major came out.
Last came the goofiest dog of our bunch, Brownie. Turns out Brownie and Gracilyn became very close in the next three days. She loved the attention showered on her by Miss G and Miss G loved how the big brown dog followed her around the house.
For most of the weekend, Gracilyn shuffled the dogs in and out of the house. "Brownie looks like she needs to go out," Gracilyn said as she opened the door. "That dog needs to come in," she added, pointing at Major who was waiting by the revolving door.
Even though Gracilyn did not get to bed until midnight, on Friday she was in the kitchen before 7 a.m. ready to play with the dogs.
It was kinda chilly in the house - definitely too early to play revolving door - so I suggested we go to my bed.
Gracilyn climbed in on the Ump's side and I loaded the bed with all four dogs and one cat, Sunday, who happened to wander through.
For the next hour or so we watched Disney cartoons from my bed-turned-ark. We had to do the same thing the next morning.
Twenty years from now, I hope Gracilyn remembers those mornings the way I do - the way I am sure I will. We live so far apart - my niece and I - that we don't often see each other. I know about her life because my brother is full of stories about his daughter which he shares every time we are together. She knows about us because her parents have had her asking God to watch over us every night when she says her prayers.
Scott said she talked a lot about her trip to the country. Uncle Kenny (the Ump) took her for a tractor ride on the farm and managed to find a family with a horse for Gracilyn to take a ride on.
We ended our visit with a bonfire at a friend's house where we sat around the fire and roasted marshmallows, made s'mores and laughed under a star-lit sky. Gracilyn played with Ethan (whom she referred to as The Boy) and Cora (also known as The Girl).
It was a good weekend. Scott said every farm they passed on the way back to North Carolina was Uncle Kenny's farm. Her favorite dog was Brownie and the most fun she had was riding on the horse.
I think she took home some good memories. I know I will always bahmember (her word) her first visit to our home. And I can't wait for the next one.