SillyNate's Vlogmas

Vlogmas Day 8: Fun at Chewton Glen with Gleam

                 

We've been here for a while when I decide to pull out my camera again. We're just finishing up the dinner and everyone seems in a great mood. I'm so happy to share this moment with my extended Gleam family. It seems to grow and grow but the more the merrier as they say.

Abss is still a bit hesitant to be in big groups of people. However, she knows about half of the YouTubers as well as loads of the Gleamers but there are still many new faces for her to take in.

I leave her side and our table for a moment to fetch lemonade to us both. On my way back, I spot the cuteness that makes me turn on my camera.

Abbs is gently rocking Ruth's five-month-old daughter in her arms and cooing at her. I feel a clutch around my heart that I didn't think I'd ever feel this young. I know children are things of the distant future but seeing her so comfortable with a baby sparks all kinds of thoughts in my head.

"You okay there, Nate?" Jim asks as he walks up beside me. I move the camera from its zoomed in position and focus it on Jim and I.

"Yeah, mate. Just..." I don't know how to explain what just happened.

It seems I don't have to as Jim gives me a nod and smiles as if he knows what I was thinking. Maybe having children around the newly wed creates the same reactions.

Theirs are understandable though, mine really isn't. Abbs and I have only been together a year and a half and we're much too young to even talk about marriage, let alone babies.

Jim gives me a gently punch on the shoulder and I move on towards Abbs as she hands back the baby.

"Your lemonade, milady," I say and offer her the drink.

"Thank you, my lord," she answers playing along with the game.

"How are you enjoying the party?"

"A lot," she says sincerely as she sips on her drink. She doesn't even seem fazed that I asked it with a camera pointed at her face.

"Everyone here is like a big family. No, a huge family but somehow it works. It doesn't really matter if people are Gleamers or YouTubers. I think that really unique. There's a genuine bond of friendship between everyone. I don't know if other "talent"," she says, actually doing air quotes in real life, "have that kind of bond. It's admirable."

The way she speaks it's as if she's part of our family. Not just through relation to me but in her own right.

She's actually on the middle ground herself, a blogger that could be considered the "talent" but she's also working the managing side. She isn't managing anyone personally but she spends a lot of time working with the Gleamers out of their office. Slowly but surely, she's been integrated into all the families I think that matters; YouTubers/Gleam, our parents and siblings, and our online following. Maybe that's why thoughts of family occupy my mind.