Eighteen Years Ago....

Eighteen years ago, right now, I would have been living with my sister, Amy, in Tennessee. I took a semester off from college life and moved to the backwoods, down in the hollow. And my little companion was my new niece, Malauri. Here are a few pics of us together while I lived with them, and one when she was eighteen months old and I went back to visit. Wow, a lot can happen in the growing-up lifetime of eighteen years.

Here's this beautiful girl now. She graduated from high school this week. Her mom is my best friend, and through that perspective, I know that Malauri is absolutely amazing!!!! She is so genuinely sweet and kindhearted. She is an amazing big sister to two little sisters and one little brother. I have watched her over the past few years, which have been full of turmoil for her family. My sister and her husband were divorced, after twenty years of marriage. And this all went down during Malauri's high school years. Surely not what she had pictured those years to be like. Through it all Malauri has been the pillar of strength that has held her family up. For years she remained the only active member of the church in her family, and went to church faithfully every week....alone. Life has taken it's toll on Malauri in ways that are known only to her and those closest to her. And yet she continues to put one foot down in front of the other, remaining the biggest fan and supporter of her mom and siblings.

This fall she'll start college at Utah State, and live on her own. She's ready. She will go so incredibly far in this life. She deserves the moon and the stars and more, and she will get it. I am so proud to say she is my niece. I do not know a better person.

Congratulations, Malauri, on your graduation. The world awaits you. What a lucky world!!! I love you!!!