My Mother’s Day 2010

Dear Mom and Dad,

It is Sunday, the ALL HANDS ON GUGE DAY, but today was special because it was MY FIRST MOTHERS DAY WITH MOMMY!

I have been a good sweet and adorable baby – as we all know,  but today, I was with Mom, being my sweet adorable self, and I loved every second.  

I was so cute…. and not only was I adorable  I made Mommy a mothers day card.   I really did, yes, I had help from my co-campers but I made the most amazing Mother’s Day card.    My co-campers made cards for Nana, and well can I tell you…. I had the best time.  I HAVE THIS UNBELIEVABLE THING THAT I DO… I MAKE PEOPLE SMILE…ME ITTY BITTY GUGU BEE, here are just a few photos to show you the IMPACT THE GUGE HAS ON NOT ONLY MOMS… BUT EVERYONE!

He is a smiling and not one of those , oh do I have to kind…

The real deal…

the kind of smile that comes from the love and happiness I have brought to the Mitten State…

Hmmm…

and I am looking pretty happy myself…

Wow…

I love being a spirit stick….

it just feels GOOD ya know…

CHEESE!

Great Great Aunt Ida and I, wow, and I saw Great Great Great Aunt Shirley too… but the beast, AKA Mr. Nikon, did not capture us…. but she was smiling too!

Mother’s Day was missing Great Grandma Sally all the way in Washington, but only physically.. she was on the phone and well…. of course always in the heart!  Happy Mother’s Day from Nana Great Grandma!

We had some fun, and Great Great Aunt Audrey and Uncle Mel, well they came bearing a gift… yep can you believe it…. a gift for MOTHERS DAY for me…. Now.. here I am shocked at my good fortune and getting one of my most favorite things ever…. a book.

I love love love books so getting one is serious stuff…. time out need to read!

I got right back into making smiles… on the faces of everyone, here I am with Cuz Nanc… who has been a loyal subject of the Guge! 

Yea, I am lucky… she is so nice to me… and has followed my every love letter to you and daddy…

She and I hanging out SMILING!

It really does not get any better than a smile… and well maybe a smile and some cheesecake!

Which my GG-ma made for me!  Can you believe it, and I got the honorary first slice… like a birthday or something…  Thanks for the cheesecake GG-ma… thanks for all the smiles too!

Are we seeing the common thread here….

I was not joking when I said, I AM THE SMILE MAKER…

My name could have been JOY!

But really…. Guillianna is so pretty and I love being a GUGU BEE… but when you look through these pictures and see the joy I bring… well… it’s hard to deny.

This is but one day… one tiny portion of one day, and the true and genuine love that is seen in these pictures is not photo shopped, and the people may not be famous… but it is real and true love … what the day is about – what this has all been about… the love of a child.   So – yes… I happen to be the child… I happen to be lucky enough to be the focal point of this particular story, but the love of an innocent child… is the most pure and wonderful thing life has to offer.   Nana says, the child need not even be your own.   The affect a child like me has on someone… well it is what makes life fantastic.   You need only hold one… look at it, and know… there is hope.   Hey another name that could have been mine… HOPE like my Great Aunt Nori who also was not there but follows my every move.   There are so many who follow me, unmentioned today, but not for one second forgotten.   I hope all those who know about Camp Nana, who follow me and that I have brought JOY OR HOPE to know that it is not possible for Nana and I to get it all into this my last letter.   This is a small glimpse into what has been a most amazing trip for me.   This one last letter could not ever show all the friends family and people who have been a part… but know that I AM ONE LUCKY LITTLE GIRL and it has made being a camper fun! Speaking of CAMPERS…. well…. see again, the effects of a child –   SMILE…. SMILE…. SMILE….

Alas, Uncle Nick was working, a chef making Mother’s Day food all day but in our heart like all the others who could not partake.

When we swam the smiles were too many to count, and the time at camp so great.   Sparkling shoes and bandit fun made smiles to last a lifetime.

Now, while I am taking credit for being a smile maker, and boasting of my ability to make people smile….

I am going to be honest here and say…

I had a very good teacher….

and anyone who knows him would agree….

When it comes to smiles there is one person who has me beat hands down…

who has a smile for everyone all the time…

someone whose smile has always been admired, and contagious…

he is my Poppy….

he always has his smile ready to share and pass along!

I have been at camp learning and growing, and also making people smile…. you and daddy and I will soon be together again and the smiles as plentiful at Ft. Hood as they have been in the Mitten State.

Great Aunt Pam, who has made helping Nana her first priority, has helped in so many ways.  On this Mother’s Day she came to care for Nana…and well, has been such a big part of camp.   Thank you Aunt Pam for making my days here so awesome!

There is no way to really thank someone for what you have done these past months.  Traveling across town time after time to make me smile…. to play with me, and all the campers.   You are a GREAT AUNT!

Happy Mothers Day to you too!

All of us campers agree you are GREAT!

Nana must confess… as a mom –  today was really hard … she apologizes to her children for all the heartache caused by decisions she has made.   Moms and most people as a general rule don’t ever want those they love to be hurt or suffer in anyway.   Nana decided to care for me knowing she may not be the same at the end.   (No one is the same – all the people who have lived at camp are a year older and “wiser” or affected.)   Nana has lectured, nurtured and loved all her kids on being “safe, being smart, thinking about choices”…. she has shown them in this year that yes, it is true some choices are permanent.  None of the choices Nana has made mean she loves her own children or husband less… but instead they were choices that were intended to say – protect – love and cherish the innocent. (ME)  It is the innocent that are the future of all humanity.  Nana is not a philanthropist, and will not leave a legacy behind in any sort of “famous” way.   She won’t build a wing on a research center, or contribute to society in what most could say was some magnificent type of showing.   SHE WILL HAVE CONTRIBUTED IN THE WORK OF ART SHE HAS CREATED.   A masterpiece in it’s own right.   Nana did not design a car engine… nor did she make any great discoveries.   As a matter of fact there is little she really knows, and is not an expert in anything.    What she does HOPE for is this… that in her attempt to be a mom…  she has created opportunity … in each of her kids…she hopes there is endless opportunity.   Like those many years ago, who spent a lifetime building architecture that people today admire.  That they themselves may never have seen a completion of… things like castles, chapels, structures that awe people centuries later …. those who built them never able to fully see or feel the fruits of the labor of love!   In each camper that I spent this  past year with, Nana hopes she has helped in some small way to create  an endless sea of love…. she hopes THAT EACH CAMPER FORGIVE HER THE FLAWS SHE HAS AND KNOW HER OBJECTIVE WAS NOT TO GET SICK, NOT TO RISK HURTING ANYONE… but instead to say … the innocent child is to be loved, cherished and placed above all things ….  she was once an innocent child.    Someone who was born into a crazy world.   Adopted by a mom…. and given an opportunity.   This year… and all the choices made, were an opportunity for NANA TO GIVE TO  a baby,  ME  – who was brought into a chaotic world….. a few months of love….  now it is me –  who as an adult that has the daunting task of being the future…. and one day…. giving of myself something that makes life just a bit better for another…..

 and her kids my co-campers… on Mother’s Day and always…. are everything to her!   They too have to realize there may have been a price paid… Nana thinks the smiles and the things that I brought to Camp  – and all those people I have touched  – is the prize!    It was to show and make clear that for NANA, having a family was and is the most important thing to her.   Some people invest in stocks, others may love cars, or buy clothes, new fashions or a bazillion other things…. and yes, it is true… the message Nana wants to send can get lost, or there are those who may say they need no one, they don’t want family, and only seek independence…. but for me the GUGEMEISTER, I spent the past sixteen months getting and giving more love than can be imagined… AND THAT is and has been NANA’S “thing”.   

I know this letter is long…. and for some even boring  –  but it is the last… and ending this written journey is not easy.  I am but an innocent child, who for so many days has entered the homes of so many…. thank you for letting me in… thank you for the smiles and the love, and know that today…. AS ALWAYS…. I AM  “GUILLIANNA”, LITTLE MISS ADORABLE  the joy and the hope …. and the smile…. that Nana has wanted to share with so many.

Guillianna!

P.S.

YOU NEED NOT EVER BE A MOM, OR PARENT  – TO LOOK IN THE FACE OF ANY CHILD AND SEE INNOCENCE IN IT’S MOST PURE FORM, I AM THE ‘GUGE’,  AND TO ALL MY CO-CAMPERS, I SEND ALL MY LOVE, AND THANK YOU FOR ALL OF YOURS.    You helped build a great “chapel” in my heart, and I will carry it with me forever to one day share it with someone else.   Thank you, thank you, thank you…