UNCLEHOOD

Her big blue eyes beamed with excitement and her thin, blond hair blew wildly in the wind as she sledded down a snow slide. Her smiling face and dimpled cheeks lit up the night sky when she sat on Santa’s lap and revealed her Christmas wish list. Her caring nature was on full display as her tiny hands gently stroked the fur of animals that Uncle Donald’s Farm had on display.

Before leaving the festival, we stopped at a game booth. I launched three darts and successfully popped three balloons. When I handed Callie her stuffed animal, she hugged me and said, “I love you, uncle.”

I was touched. It marked the first time I truly embraced the role of being this beautiful little girl’s uncle. She was finally beyond the days of needing her diaper changed—days that I admittedly avoided like the plague. That night, though, we made an everlasting connection, and our relationship became cemented in stone.

She was the small kid, and I was the big kid. At least that’s how Callie viewed our uncleniece bond.

“I love my uncle because he’s like a kid who is all grown up,” Callie once told my mother.

I’ve taken her to every Leesburg Main Street Christmas Stroll since then, and we visit the Lake County Fair each year in April. And every time, I pop more balloons or shoot a basketball through the hoop so I can win her a stuffed animal.

Of course, our small-kid, big-kid relationship isn’t confined to carnivals. When she visits my parents’ home, Callie and I spend time playing hide and seek, competing in an intense game of Battleship, and racing each other in a pool.

Being an uncle is definitely a sweet deal. I don’t have to be the disciplinarian, but I can shower her with birthday and Christmas presents. Hence, I’m always on her good side. I’m younger than Callie’s grandparents so I can get down on her level and engage in goofy fun. And, most importantly, it gives me a chance to feel like a kid again. I secretly enjoy those trips to the fair and those Battleship games as much as she does.

Whatever I’m doing as an uncle must be working. Last year, Callie’s fourth-grade teacher assigned a class project where students had to videotape a role model and ask them questions about their lives.

Callie chose me. It was an honor to provide her insight about my life as a magazine writer.

As a single, childless man, I won’t pretend to know what it’s like to deal with the challenges of raising a child on a daily basis. Nor can I say that unclehood is more rewarding than parenthood. However, I feel as much pride as anyone having watched Callie develop into a well-mannered, intelligent, and fun-loving person. Callie is now a fifth-grade student at Treadway Elementary School in Leesburg. She has made straight A’s throughout her life and manages to stay out of trouble. Much to her uncle’s delight, she is athletically inclined and has been involved in many sports, including soccer, softball, basketball, cheerleading, and gymnastics.

I couldn’t be prouder of you, Callie. Never forget your uncle loves you with all his heart.