What's the challenge?
To visit my almost 3 year-old niece after 4.5 months of being apart and trust that she will remember me and love me in the same way.
What are you afraid of and why?
I'm terrified of losing her love, care and attention. She is my favorite person on earth and the one reason my heart breaks whenever I leave Miami.
How was the experience?
I'm always nervous to see her again after a long period of time and she not paying attention to me. Usually, she runs to my arms and screams my name, this time it was a bit different. Her mom already told me that she's been behaving like the typical threenager, so her favorite word is "no" and "that's mine." So I get to the pool area where she was and expected her to run into my arms and get me completely wet with pool water. Instead, she kept playing on the pool and splashing everywhere; no hugs or screaming out my name. After a couple of minutes I had to move on, so I took my broken heart to the beach area to see the rest of the family. Once she was done playing in the pool, she came to the beach and as soon as she saw me she showed her love by running into my arms and finally screaming "Michelle!!!." The best moment of my trip to Miami. After that, we immediately became inseparable for the next 24 hours. I'm no longer going to worry about Shira forgetting about me every time I leave her for a couple of months. I have to trust that our love is big enough and that the feeling will always be there.