The Fab Four (and a whole lot more)

February has arrived...the love month as some would call it. In my neck of the woods the white paper snowflakes are slowly turning into pink paper hearts. Words around me spell out: heart, friendship, hugs, and love. Who first taught me about love? As a child, I never remember being without the love of my parents, grandparents, siblings and cousins, so I can't say it was them. Marriage and children of my own has certainly taught me the most about love, but they were not the first. As it happens, the first to really teach me about love were the fab four...or as I like to think of them, the Four I Adore. Richard, Erin, Charlotte and Charles. I was an aunt for many years before I became a mom. I'll never forget the first day I saw Richard...I had just turned 17 six weeks before he was born. From the first moment I saw him, I was hooked. Then came Erin, Charlotte and Charles. With each birth, I was overwhelmed with emotion and the realization that my life was going to be joyously different. I was not only Martha daughter and Martha sister...I was now Aunt. The title changed my life. I.love.being.Aunt. Soon after the Fab Four came the Five Who Arrived . Karen, Graydon, Audrey, Giff and CiCi. It didn't take long for David's nieces and nephews to become mine as well. It continues to be a great joy to me to have these amazing, talented and wonderful children be part of my life. They continue to reveal to me that we are stronger together than we are apart, and even though they may not realize it, they provide connections that strengthen, enrich and ground me to my past and future. Jessica and Kelley, you are the Two Who Were New. Thanks for becoming family to my brother and siblings to Charlotte and Charles. You are wonderful additions to my life, and I don't think of you as new any longer. Don't worry, Brett, I didn't forget you. You make me realize that love is always changing and reconfiguring our lives and always to be open to new possibilities. Thanks for keeping my brother young at heart and loving my girls. You are the Plus One More. Lastly, a new chapter in aunting. I call these The Six in the Mix. Ross, Sarah, Caleb, Seth, Addy and Ansley. You are the new template for what is to come. I can't wait to see who will follow on your heels. I don't know exactly what to wait for, but I do know who I have to thank for making me love whatever it will be....the Four I Adore, the Five Who Arrived, the Two Who Were New, the Plus One More, and the Six in the Mix. Thank you for being my first true loves.