and Talk
She is Dad’s aunt and as a child, I never gave her much thought.
She was just there.
At Thanksgiving,
at Christmas,
at picnics and parties.
There.
As a teen, I really didn’t talk to her.
All I knew or cared to know about the woman was that she was my granny’s sister,
her husband had died, she had two children and some grandchildren.
Somewhere through the years though, we started a conversation
& after the first few, I would seek and plop myself right smack next to her at all family events.
One day, this Great Aunt of mine asked if I wouldn’t mind coming to her house every other week to do some light housekeeping.
She’d give me $20.00 for my troubles.
‘Ok, sure” I agreed, not really all that enthused about light housekeeping but, what the heck …
why not
& so began our friendship.
The easy chores that should have taken very little time to complete, stretched into hours with each visit because we would talk
& talk.
& talk.
& talk.
Always with a cup of coffee and definitely with a cookie or three.
The woman was amazing.
She told me life story after life story
& she would giggle when I’d say I should write her words down.
“Next time I’m taking notes” I would every time promise.
“You better hurry up !” my almost 90 year old auntie would giggle.
An adventure that sticks in my head is when she decided to quit smoking.
Heavy duty, couple packs, “Is just what we did back then” she’d say
but one day, this stubbornly strong woman decided to kick the habit.
No reason really, other than will.
Cold turkey is how she decided she’d do it and cold turkey she did
& even though she kept an unopened pack of cigarettes by her night stand, ‘just in case’, there was never a need to open them.
She just stopped.
I think about that little lady when I see ads for nicotine gum or patches.
“Just quit”.
“It’s easy if you want it bad enough” she would say.
I remember the last time I saw my Great Aunt.
She had been having occasional health issues and was feeling very tired.
Mom, Dad and I stopped in to check on her but, she was asleep on her couch.
I fought an urge that day because I didn’t want to wake her but, how I wish I would have kissed that forehead.
Great Auntie has been on my mind a lot lately and truth be told, I sure do miss that light housekeeping gig.
This uniquely wonderful person went from being “just there” to becoming one of my best friends
& it happened so very easily.
We talked.
We simply talked.
🙂
Memo to Self :
Next time, take notes.
