I am running a little behind in my birthday posts - just haven't had the mojo to write lately. First up, your Aunt Sheila's birthday was this past week. Your Aunt Sheila has been around since I was born. For most of my years, she lived in the same house across the street from Gilder. Aunt Sheila used to babysit me when I was little and her & Uncle Jeff basically encircled me into their brood. They would take me on trips with them, invite me to go to activities with them and basically treated me like I was one of theirs. Even now that I am older, they include me in their family dinners and we all enjoy going on trips together. Although, it was nicer when I was young and they paid for it :)
When I was little, I was running late to school. I walked to the corner where you had to cross the street. Since I was late, there were no cross guards. I stood there and cried. I don't know how long but in my memory, it felt like hours. Aunt Sheila was going for a walk or something and found me. She rescued me and took me to school. I think she probably rolled her eyes that I wouldn't cross the street but hey, I followed the rules. I don't think that is a story I will ever forget.
Aunt Sheila wants to meet you as bad as I do. She even offered to carry a baby for us if we couldn't. Even though she bragged that she loved being pregnant and was never sick (compared to your mom who whines about it hourly), it was the nicest gesture! How many people can truly say that they would have a baby for you? (In our case 4 but I think that is highly unusual) She will love you up and (we hope) babysit you frequently :)
Aunt Sheila has passed on a few cooking recipes that are in my arsenal - "noodles" were brought to our holidays from the Navens, sugar cookies made from cake mixes, and the ever-famous ice-cream dessert. Although I can make ice cream dessert, I swear it never turns out like hers. I don't know if it is her years of practice or she puts in lots of extra love, but hers is the best :)
Finally, the thought I would like to leave you with about your Aunt Sheila & your Uncle Jeff is that they are both the kind of people that I know I can call at any given time and they will drop everything to help me if there is an emergency. They are solid pillars in my life that I know I can lean on and that is really important to me. There isn't much that they need from me in return but, if they ever did, I would drop what I was doing because of how much they are there for me. I hope that you will feel the same way when you meet them!