My Cousin Maggie

August 28th, 2010

Maggie & Ella on graduation night

Last Sunday after church we headed out to college-town to visit my cousin who just started her first year at university. I can’t believe she’s in college.

Maggie just turned 18 and I mentioned this anecdote in her birthday card, but I have to share it here. This is how I will always think of her…

It was Christmas Eve at my parents house. They had just purchased a karaoke machine and it was the perfect occasion to break it in. We were a family heavily into country music and at the time, country music was heavily into Miss Shania Twain.

I remember poking the video camera around the corner into the kitchen, hoping Maggie wouldn’t notice the blinking light and get shy. There she stood, her little denim skirt twirling as she swayed her 5 year old hips to the beat. She clutched the mic like a child country star should. She was so into it. Mag was singing her heart out about her man’s boots being under someone else’s bed. She knew every word of Shania’s tale and heartache.

The Hoffmann Cousins, June ’10

There is a memory that is so vivid, I don’t even need the tape as a reminder. But it’s there, in my parent’s hall closet, should anyone want to see the real Maggie I know and love.

Come to think of it, she’s pretty much remained the same as she’s grown into the woman she is today.