When this little boy was born, my life changed forever. He is my very first nephew. I did not know what to expect, or how much love I could feel for a nephew, until I met him. He looked like a little version of my brother and I fell in love with him.

What I feel for Noah cannot be described or compared, but Benji gave me the first glimpse of a love so incredibly big for a tiny person who has done nothing to deserve it–just being themselves…

The Tuesday Noah died and I was in the hospital, Benji woke up from his nap and the first thing he did was ask about me. My mom was at his house waiting to hear the news from the emergency room. When she left to the hospital, Benji said, “I want to go to the hospital so I can give Tia Tefi a kiss and she can feel better.”

These past three years we have played, read books, shared kisses, traveled the world, and played some more. When I first saw him after everything happened, he looked at me and said, “Tia Tefi tienes muchos boo boos.” He saw my soul, he knew I had bruises “boo boos” in my soul. But he kissed me and we smiled and played.

One of his favorite people in the world is his “tío Jonny”, they can play for hours and hours. During our first visit to my brother and his family after Noah died, he took Jon by the hand to play (as he always does) and asked him to read bible stories. Of course–by Benji’s choice–they read the story of Noah and he turned and told Jon (they both speak English and Spanish to each other, it’s the cutest thing), “Tío Jonny, after the storm, a rainbow comes.” And Benji gave him a hug.

Benji,
A year ago I wrote you something along the lines of “I hope one day you’ll know the happiness you have brought into our family…” The funny thing is, I didn’t even know then how much my heart needed you.

Happy 3rd birthday mi nene! I hope you had fun celebrating with Woody and Buzz, even though the Woody who showed up to your party was wearing the wrong hat. 😉

Love,

Tia Tefi