Favorite Human Being

Renata and me in La Rochelle, summer 2023, on the upstairs horsies of our favorite carousel.

In the gorgeous medieval town of Gubbio, my sisters and I had an exquisite lunch meal on Easter Sunday.

From my unique vantage point at our table, I could see a family of 8 seated next to us, and I intuitively told my sisters the story of these people.

They are the families of two sisters. The husbands of the sisters are good friends. The four girl cousins – each family has two daughters – are like sisters and have lots of fun together. Everyone loves everyone, and they love being out for Easter together. Next they’re going to all go home and eat chocolates.

At the end of their meal, one of the nieces went to her auntie’s side of the table, and stood there for the longest time as the two of them lovingly cuddled and held each other.

I told my sisters that the auntie is that little girl’s favorite human being. She’s her favorite auntie, probably her godmother. They really love each other.

The entire scene reminded me of my little Renata, and how we are this way together. This little girl was about 8 years old and didn’t crawl onto her auntie’s lap, but if Renata is 8 and still small enough, she will absolutely crawl onto my lap. When I saw her in January, at 6 years old, she did just that. And we cuddled and held each other for the longest time.

Just before Easter, thanks to her Mamie Marinette (grandmother), I received voice messages from Renata telling me that she loved me so much, and that she gave me a million bisous (kisses), with adorable fotos. It all filled my heart to overflowing and I told them so.

The favorite human being idea is something I’ve never thought about until I read about it in a memoir. The author lovingly spoke about his grandfather as his favorite human being. I love the thought of this.

One day Renata and I will have a conversation about favorite human beings. I imagine that she might just name her Papi Pierre, who is said to always say yes to her.  My heart dances with such joy whenever I watch this dear man turn to jello with his only granddaughter.

Will I mind her naming him? Not in a million years.

That thought right now in fact brings tears to my eyes.

Yet, may I also, possibly be in the running? This foto below was sent to me by her Mamie Marinette with the millions of bisous messages.

I sure hope so.