You. Are. My. Biggest. Fan.

This is Fantasia.

She is my oldest niece, but more accurately, she is my {pretend} oldest child.

See, when I was a mere 18 years old, I left the comforts and craziness of my family home in California and took the long trek to Utah to live with my sister, Cyndie, and her {then} only child, Fantasia, who was just shy of 3 years old. The arrangement was that I would watch Fan while my sister worked, hence four-year-old Fantasia's description of our situation: "I have two mommies. One that works, and one that takes care of me." I was blessed and privileged, for a small time at least, to be one of the souls on the planet who got to live with and care for this amazing, genuine, brilliant, mature-beyond-her-years, engaging, beautiful, remarkable child.

In the scheme of things, it was quite a short time that I actually got to play that role. Less than 3 years, in fact. I stayed with them through the potty-training and pre-school years and left on my mission before Fan even reached kindergarten. But that time was so significant for me, so etched in my mind and burned on my heart, that it feels like so much longer than that. Not many people get to have a dress rehearsal for being a mom. And though I cringe at the ridiculous number of missteps I made during  that practice round, (in which my lazy, overwhelmed, missing-my-boyfriend teenage self wouldn't let Fantasia wake me up in the morning until there were 4 numbers on the clock), I am glad with my whole soul that I got to experience it with this sweet, forgiving, dynamic girl. That I got to grow with, and learn from, a child whose knowledge and wisdom easily surpassed my own.

Fan is now 19, and she is getting married in two short weeks. She continues to be the amazing, genuine, brilliant, mature-beyond-her-years, engaging, beautiful, remarkable girl that she always was. I am so very proud of her for the choices she has made, the relationships she has forged, and the way that she has continually chosen to live her life with love, confidence, and faith. I am so humbled and happy to have had a {tiny, itty-bitty} hand in raising her, and happy beyond words that, from a distance anyway, I still get to be a part of her life and watch her continue to glow and to grow.

Every time I see the way that she lights up a room with her smile and her spirit, my heart bursts with thanks for the gift of being her second mommy so many years ago.

{Yep, she's pretty much perfect.}

'Cause seriously, who wouldn't want to be this girl's fake mom??