Amy Rose

My niece Amy is the coolest kid and she's been cool since she was a baby.

I first knew of her existence in the very early hours of January 2nd, 12 years ago when my brother Jack called to tell me of her arrival. The phone rang and woke me up. I knew that Dianne was due so the call was not really a surprise. The surprise was in my brother's voice as he exclaimed to me "I can't believe I have a daughter!"

Her coolness didn't show right away, of course, it took a bit of time for us to become aware. The first time I knew she was going to be something else was when she was about 18 months old.

She was visiting with me and I pushed her in her umbrella stroller to my neighbor Cheryl's house so that we could go swimming in her inground pool. As I unbuckled her from the stroller, Amy got out and immediately went over to the pool and jumped in! I went right in behind her, picked her up out of the water and she said "more." So after taking her and my wet clothes off, she went in more and more and more until we were both pruned up. Molly the beagle swam with us that day, though I don't think Amy remembers that. But as of that day, I knew then that she was a cool kid.

My friend Jude was staying with me at that time, and she always called him dude which still makes me laugh. He didn't like it at all, having a little kid saying "dude, dude" but Cheryl and I got a real kick out of it. To this day, when I hear someone say 'dude' I think of how Amy started that trend 10 years ago.

She always loved music and I can still picture her tiny little body sitting in the chair in front of the computer where my brother stored his music. At about 2 years old, she knew how to access the music she loved to listen to and it was so cute to see her working the mouse to play different songs. She wasn't listening to Disney tunes either, she was listening to rock and roll!

A few years ago I bought her the electric guitar she had been wanting. She immediately started to teach herself how to play it and when I visited a few weeks later, she put it behind her head and played it. I wondered how she knew to do that, though I think it was her coolness that possessed her to try.

Her mom and I worked together for awhile and Amy would go to the daycare learning center across the parking lot when she was 5 years old. Often she would come to visit her Auntie at work and she always would say that she was never going to go to school, that she wanted to stay home with Momma. Needless to say, when it came time to start school, not only did she go but she has been a great student and a very quick learner.

I think she would probably like to be known as a tomboy, but I think she's a gifted athlete - she's not afraid to try any sport and she is very good at whatever she tries. Having an older brother has probably helped with that, but I imagine that even without his influence, she'd still be quick to try anything that comes her way and excel at it.

She's a real beauty, tall and blonde with beautiful brown eyes. I'm sure she towers over all the other kids her age and I can only imagine it won't be long before she towers over me as well. She could probably be a fashion model when she gets older, she's that tall and that beautiful, but I think that, given a choice, she would probably be an athlete - maybe play for the WNBA!

Amy sent me an email last week saying that she liked my blog - it's cool, she said. Well, Amy dear, it's not as cool as you!

Happy Birthday!! I love you lots!