Auntie B

Beth and I have been friends - "Persons" - since a few months into Gabe's first deployment. When we met she was pregnant with her first child and when Ayden arrived on the scene it was love at first sight for me. Never before had I loved anyone that deeply by merely meeting him. He changed my perspective. In one moment I became Auntie K and still wear the title proudly for my Ayden.

It wasn't long into our own intimate friendship (things like deployments force either total vulnerability or none at all and God gave us each other to be weak with while our men were gone) that I shared with Beth my dreams of Raychel Joye. Gabe and I did not want to get pregnant at that time (not that we could anyway), but we looked forward to the day we would and I looked forward to the little girl I always wanted and somehow believed I would have. She has been named Raychel Joye since I was 13 years old. Beth, also excited for the day I became a mom, would talk about Raychel the way I thought of her. It was not uncommon to hear, "When Raychel Joye comes..." or, "Raychel Joye is going to..." in our daily rhythms.

When I became pregnant and did not know the gender Beth would refer to Gideon or Raychel (or Baby Berry hehe), but had a feeling it was a girl. I was totally unsure about RJ's gender, but hoped it was a girl. (Then one night I went to sleep praying for "him or her" to be safe and developing well. I woke up in the middle of the night concerned about some light cramping and in my half-sleep state fervently prayed for "her" instinctually. Then I was almost sure it was my Raychel). Neither of us were surprised to find out on her birthday that she was a she. 

So we finally had our Raychel Joye... And Beth loved her even before her first sight. And she became, in one moment, Auntie B. This is huge. Beth has waited a long time for this and I anticipate a very special relationship between my beautiful girl and her beautiful Auntie. I am so excited for Beth as she can now experience with my daughter what I have experienced with her amazing son (and he really is amazing; that kid holds the moon and stars in his smile). It'll be different and it'll be their own, but it will be magical none the less. It already is.