I wasn’t his childhood aunt, but I was best friends with the woman who was. Things changed, time passed, and I would come to know him as my nephew. Fleeting moments, years apart, the one who created the family tie, now gone. But we are family, only now, not so much by creation, but by choice. Today, March 15th, Jesse Aaron Williams turns 40 years old. I can’t help but celebrate the man he’s become.

In the quiet, I understood. I had learned the lessons, and this was an opportunity to apply the wisdom and do it differently. This time, I would love me first.