My niece, Olivia, was born last month. It's my brother, Stan and his wife, Heidi's third beautiful child. Their first two are twins whom I've met only twice to my dismay. Cruz and Eva were born in Los Angeles which explains the dilemma. I would love to be their "Auntie" as I am to my nieces Sydney and Lauren, whom I am close to and love with all my heart. Although I love Stan's three children with all my heart, they don't know me. It's a common problem today with families who live far apart from one another.

When we moved to Virgina 22 years ago, my boys were 5 and 8 years old. We thought that we would return to California within a few years where we would be close to our families again. Instead, John's job kept us in Virginia. Consequently, our boys were raised without extended family, I have often wondered if things could have been different if their aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents would have been part of their lives. But then all "is" as it is meant to be, no matter how hard certain things are to accept.

Back to my brother, he and his wife wanted to name their baby after a relative and since he was close to my aunt Olivia, my mother's sister, Olivia it is. Sadly, my aunt passed away recently and I think this is a wonderful tribute to her.

In wanting to create something for baby Olivia, I decided to use her special name. I used photographs I've taken of various flowers and layered them to create letters. I framed the print and plan on mailing it this week to Albuquerque, New Mexico where the Wilson family now lives.