It wasn't all because of the wind in my face that I felt tears flowing from the corners of my eyes while I biked down the path towars the beach, a route I'd taken hundreds of times living at the family-home turned brother's family home. My nephew peddaled fast in front of me , while my brother peddaled ahead on his own bike.
We were heading for an evening ice cream ("ijsje" as my nephew would call it...), and the setting sun, the route reminded me so much of the way things were. The bike I was riding on was one mum bought some years ago. It has now been transformed and has a baby seat in the back and a black basket up from for groceries. Mum would have been so happy being there. Mum would have been so at ease seeing us bike together, felt so proud of her little grandson's speed and determined look on the four-year-old's face... Mum would have been so proud to hold little precious Brianna Alison , named after her, in her arms like I did earlier that evening.
So fragile, so strong, so small yet so very beautiful. She is weak yet strong willed, her featured are all still forming, yet in the depths of her eyes you can seen curiosity and wonder. My relatives ( sister-in-law's relatives) say there is something that reminds them of mum... I don't see it yet, but I know mum would have been so proud, so overjoyed to hold a girl in her arms. She always wanted a baby girl , and here she is...
Funnily enough, my nephew calls himself and would rather be a "big sister" because he wants to be like a girl in his class who takes care of her younger brother... He doesn't yet understand that he can never be really be a big sister to his little sister... But he kisses her, goes to see her and touch her gently... The sweetest thing...
