Mexico bound Lex

My trip to California gave me the wonderful opportunity to get re-acquainted with my beautiful 20 yr. old niece. I normally find it awkward to carry on conversations with young people... But hey, this is my niece... It's important to me to get to know her better. I saw her often when she was a toddler... For a brief time she and my sister even lived with us... But then my husband and I moved east and time and distance have made it difficult to carry on the Aunt/Niece, Friendship/Relationship that I wish we'd been able to share. I find it IMPOSSIBLE to believe that she's now 20 yrs. old (where does the time go?)... I wish I could call back the years and we could spend time braiding eachothers hair, gossiping about boys or share some form of female bonding time. I was so pleased that Lex and I did find some time during the visit to get re-acquainted. We took a beach walk together the night before the flight home. Initially I was a bit nervous and worried that we'd have little to talk about... However, once we hit the beach we never stopped talking... We laughed, we shared stories and I'm not sure she has any idea just how much it meant to me... How much SHE means to me!

Other than that last night I had with her in California I didn't see Lex very much. She had to work a lot while we were visiting... She works in a super trendy upscale clothing store... The kind of job my sister and I wished we could have had when we were young... The kind of job where you're required to wear the trendy clothes that are sold there and you don't have to buy them, they GIVE them to you... The kind of job that the really beautiful girls get... And my God, but Lex IS beautiful... But not only that she's got substance, she's brilliant, she's interesting and her life isn't focused around how she looks.

Lex is currently preparing for a cross-country motorcycle trip through Mexico with her dad. She'll be riding on the back of a bike they intend to pick up somewhere in Texas. While I was out there she went out with her dad to pick up the necessary bike wear for the trip... Helmet, Heavy Jacket and Ultra-Thick Denim Jeans. I personally can't think of any greater form of hell than donning heavy clothing... Sitting for hours haunched over a whining motorcycle motor... Hot wind and enormous bugs blowing into my face... And all this while enduring the intense Mexico sun! But my niece is NO sissy... She's travelled extensively throughout places like Thailand and Vietnam and most of that was via motorcycle. In fact Lex has seen more in her brief 20 yrs. than I will most likely see in my entire lifetime. My sister says that the globe trotting experiences with her dad have made my niece into the mature and compassionate girl she is today.

Even with all that experience I can't help but feel nervous for her... My ex-brother-in-law may be knowledgable on a motor-cycle but there are all sorts of idiots on the road he'll need to be looking out for AND he'd better be looking out for them! I want to remind Lex that she needs to drink plenty of water in order to stay hydrated... But also make sure she's careful what water she drinks... I want to tell her to be wary of strangers, seedy characters and banditos!... But most of all I want to wish her a good time, full of amazing experiences... So that when she returns, she can share them all with me on a good long beach walk.