One winter morning, at about 7:05 am, I was flurrying around the house looking for my cardigan. I was almost late for school. I was hopping past my parents’ room, struggling with my shoe when I heard my father give a shout of joy.

I tumbled into the room, and asked, “What happened?”

Later than evening, for the first time I saw the most perfect human being imaginable, my gorgeous niece. It has been two years since then, one of which she and her mother spent in Pakistan with us.

The first time holding her was remarkable. Children don’t ever like me, they like my sister. But this baby didn’t cry, or squirm. She stayed perfectly still in my arms. That was when I fell in love with her. Her small fingers and even smaller nails, her cute button nose, her tiny toes, her brightly lit hazel eyes red from crying – everything about her was perfect.

But don’t let that small bundle of new-born joy fool you; she cried loud enough to qualify for winning the first place in an international baby cry-off, if there were such a thing.

I’m a person who always plans ahead, and I can’t stop thinking about my niece’s future. It’s not that I’m planning what she’ll do with her life, it’s that I’m wondering what she’ll choose to do? What kind of person will she be? Will she want to be close with me? Will she get a job? What will she expect from life?

Curiosity is what fuels our imagination, and mine is always running rampant.

However, when I first learnt of her arrival into the world, I was thinking none of these things. In fact, it was the first time in my entire life that my mind was utterly blank. At first, I was stunned. During the ride to school I was stunned, the walk to and up the staircase I was stunned, and it wasn’t until my friend accompanied me downstairs that I finally snapped back to my sense.

I had been distantly aware of my friend talking, and I recall her being in the middle of asking me a question when I cut her off, “My sister had a daughter. I’m an aunt!”

“That’s wonderful! Congratulations!” I was in the middle of thanking her when a burst of adrenaline and pure joy took over.

Dear readers, pure joy is not what one feels when one discovers some extra cash in their pocket, or when one discovers their favourite candy bar lying in their closet; pure joy is what I felt in those next few moments. It made me do things that I wouldn’t normally do, things that would make my friends think I was unhinged.

It so happened that while that joy was rushing through my veins, one of my classmates was walking by. Now me and this person have known each other for quite a while, but don’t often converse. She too was in the middle of a conversation with her friend, when I grabbed her by the arms and spun her around. She stared at me, almost as stunned as I was earlier this morning. Perhaps shocked would be a more appropriate term for both of them.

I realised my strange behaviour required an explanation, but I didn’t seem to be capable of speaking.

Luckily, my friend swooped in for the rescue, “Her sister had a daughter, she’s an aunt!”

They unfroze, sincere smiles spreading across their faces. They hugged and congratulated me. I thanked them and moved on. Within the hour, everyone knew I was an aunt thanks to her. I didn’t mind, I had no reason to do so. There was life in this world, life that brought me happiness I never expected it to.

At the time, I did not wonder why I felt the way I did. That is how bliss works. I was living in the moment, and I did not realise that what I was feeling was love that would continue to grow. This love wanted to make me guide my niece whenever she needed guidance, help her whenever she needed help. I would even side with her in whatever argument she had with her mother so she would never feel alone.

There is nothing more beautiful and precious than love for someone you haven’t even met yet, a love that, despite the odds, grows when you finally meet them. That is the strangest thing about life, it springs itself on you when you least expect it changing the way you think, feel and perceive.

Life, dear reader, is without doubt the greatest adventure.

Published in Dawn, Young World, August 21st, 2021