an essay my 11-year-old niece wrote about me for her school’s writing contest that made me cry:

November writing contest

If I got to spend the day with someone I honor, I would spend it with my Aunt Ali and my little cousin [R] who is almost 1. I would pack a lunch and go to the beach with them and hold her and sit right where the waves crash.

After she was laughing at the waves we would eat our packed lunch and go back to the house and put baby [R] down for a nap.

While she was sleeping we would go back to the beach and make the biggest hole ever. It would be like a smaller pool but so big we could sit in it when we were done we would destroy it so the baby sea turtle would not get on the way because Aunt Ali loves nature.

Then we would go back to the house get baby [R] up from her nap and make homemade pasta that we had made before and was good. After we ate dinner we would take showers then we would watch a movie and baby [R] would be on my lap the whole time.