Tequila! (aka “Happy birthday my niece”)
Today it’s my little niece Tahila’s birthday. She’s eight. She’s loud; a pocket rocket; a handful; a real drama queen. This holiday she made a new little friend, Amy, who came around to play ever other day.
When they first met I heard Amy turn to her mom and whisper, “Mommy, what’s her name? Tequila?”
As I’ve mentioned once before, I don’t know where a name like that would come in handy, apart from if she worked in a bar one day. “Another Tequila, Tequila,” the patrons would ask, and then giggle themselves into an inebriated heap.
One morning Amy and Tahila were building a puzzle with Tahila’s teenage sister. After repeatedly asking Tahila to “please keep quiet,” she eventually asked the teen agitatedly, “Does she ever stop singing? How do you live with this?”
I haven’t blogged about Tahila often but here are some observations from the last few years:
Tahila, December 2010, aged 5. Kid with the many expressions.
December 29, 2010: My niece, overheard having a conversation with a six-year-old and four-year-old over dinner the other night about boys they liked … Tahila: “I love Ryan, and want to marry him.” Jocelyn: “You know he has to love God if you want to marry him, right?” Tahila: “He does love God. And he loves zombies!” Enough said…
Tahila, January 2011, almost six.
January 2011, on holiday at the coast: Tahila asked if her grandfather would take her fishing, so that she could catch a pet fish to take home with her. Off they went later that day on their great adventure. Unfortunately, it was a mostly-unsuccessful expedition because, according to her, “there just weren’t any fish left in the sea”. If there had been she clearly would have caught one! She also left her grandpa to do most of the fishing as she dug for treasure, collected sea snails to throw into the water and ran rings around him.
Wild child. April 2012. Age 7.
One day, while driving with her mom, and with no warning, she suddenly started crying – the tears practically jumping out of her eyes. Why? Because of her arms. “No one will ever love me and want to marry me with such hairy arms,” she wailed. This blonde wild child wears her feelings on her sleeve, is definitely a handful, but is at least living life large. I don’t know what career path she’ll take one day, but something tells me she won’t be an accountant, librarian or civil servant…
Herewith some photos of the birthday girl from a few weeks back while on holiday in the Cape.
Wide angle on the stairs
Raging against the sea
Sand castle time
A fine day for snorkelling
“Ahhhhhh, I’m trapped in the body of a mermaid!”
10 Comments on “Tequila! (aka “Happy birthday my niece”)”
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They called me weed
I have been blogging here since around April 2011 - my little place on the blogosphere to express myself creatively. As a teenager I used to write a diary - in fact, as a 17-year-old living in Belgium, I wrote religiously every day. Fortunately the Internet didn't exist back then because my ramblings as a teenager were ever-so-slightly dark, cynical and depressing. You won't find much of that here. Also, mostly, I try not to get too deep or philosophical in this forum - I'd like my photography to uplift and inspire, and, where I can, I try to bring a bit of humour into my writing too. I've been fortunate enough to travel extensively and have made many friends across the globe. This is my spot to keep in touch with them.
Such fun photos! Happy birthday to your lovely niece!
Many, many more happy birthdays to her before she starts to break hearts.
You said it Kvennarad.
Hey Tahila, you’re growing up so fast and are so lovely!! Happy birthday to my young cousin… love Karin
She is very pretty and her expressions are wonderful. Your ability to record her expressions is also wonderful. She sounds and looks a lot like a little girl I had about 45 years ago.
“Loves God and zombies.” I agree. Perfectly describes my husband. Though he doesn’t admit tot he zombie part. Still, I find it interesting that every time we look for a movie he finds the lone zombie one out and says, “That one looks good!” Uh huh!
That’s hilarious, Esther. I’ll let my niece know that she made a good choice!
Love the “trapped in the body of a mermaid” one.
Ha ha ha. She is hilarious, I must say.
haa haaa.. shes way too beautiful.