My sister has four delicious children and three of them are the prettiest brown girls you'll ever see. I like to think of them as beautiful brown flowers. That's what they look like to me. Of these three brown flowers the middle one is Noni. Noni is petite with a mind of her own and the biggest smile that can hold on the face of a three year old. Normally when I see my sister I give all the kids hugs and kisses and talk to them but I eventually gravitate to the turkey of a baby, Chaeli. She is just delicious! Noni is usually somewhere around playing and doing her own thing. The last time I saw them Noni said, "I have a new dollhouse. You want to see it? Come on!." So of course I went and played with her and we had some quality one on one time. It occurred to me that that was her way of claiming some time with me. She's not quite the baby anymore and not the big sister either so she's in that special position of a middle child. I enjoyed playing with her and it reminded me how much I need to pay attention. Pay attention to all of my nieces and nephew. Pay attention to my son. Pay attention to my sisters. Pay attention to my parents. Pay attention to my friends. Just really stop and pay attention. Noni got my attention through a simple request. Sometimes it's not until something tragic happens that we begin to pay attention and then it can be too late. I'm going to pay attention today to the people that matter...