i miss my niece...

my niece, Celine, is 3 and a half years old. she's the most adorable little girl (i'm biased, of course). she's always smiling and laughing, and she loves to sing and be silly. she's a bundle of energy and will always bring a smile to your face.

yesterday, i talked to her on the phone. it was the first time i had talked to her in 5 months (since i moved to HK). when my sister put her on the phone, the first thing she said was, "Hello... I miss you! When are you coming over?" :)

as much as i loved living in NY (and currently HK), i don't like being so far away from my young niece and nephew and not getting to see them often. i also worry that since i'm never around, someday they might not remember me, their Auntie. at one point last year, after not having seen Celine for a year, i got the feeling that she was starting to forget me, which made me really sad.

last November before flying to HK, i was in CA for 2 weeks. i stayed at my sister's house for a week, where i got to spend lots of quality time with Celine everyday and helped to take care of my newborn nephew, Christopher. one evening while we were putting together a jigsaw puzzle, out of the blue, Celine looked up at me and said to me, "Celine didn't forget Auntie." I was speechless with joy.

here's one of my favorite pictures of Celine and I, taken on the last day of my stay at their house. this picture makes me super happy, so I'm going to put it here. :)