Auntie Nell

My mom and her sisters all had their children very young; as in late (or in one case, early) teens.

As such, they didn’t seem old enough for us (me, my brothers and cousins) to bestow the titles of “Aunt” or “Uncle” upon my mom and her siblings.

So they were just Dianne, Grice, Janet, Evelyn, Nell, Keith, Debra, Lorry, Ronnie, Eleanor and Rodney.

But then we, the next generation, started having kids. Most of us waited until at least our mid-twenties if not early thirties to have kids, which made the Aunts and Uncles that much older.

So when I’d talk to my girls about my mom’s sisters, they became Auntie “Name”.

When I got home that Friday afternoon and told Tom that my mom’s sister Nell had died, Alyssa said with despair, “Oh! But she was my favorite.”

That’s not to say she’d have chosen one of the others to take Nell’s place even if she could. She was just saying she was going to miss our Auntie Nell.

And we do miss her. We miss her laugh, her ability to tell it like it is.

She was so honest, so real.

She was also the auntie that my girls saw the most because she, like us, lived fairly close to my mom, so it was easy for all of us to drop in for a visit.

I can’t count the number of times the girls and I would show up at my mom’s house and Nell would be there. Or we’d be there when she arrived. And it was (still is) a given that my mom would have tea ready for Nell, Cherry and Olivia.

For what it’s worth imma pass on the tea, thank you very much. Blech.

But yes, she was the favorite. She didn’t try to make anyone like her. She just let people be who they were. I think that’s what my girls love most about her. She didn’t pretend she was there to visit with me or them. She was there to see her sister. We were just part of the package. My girls are reserved (at least around most people, including family) unless they see you every single day, or at least several times a week. It’s just part of their personality.

I don’t know where I’m going with this. I just…her death has hit me hard. We knew it was coming but kept hoping she’s bounce back. She had a hard life. The beginning was really hard.

I just hope…I pray she’s a peace. I pray that she and Amy are laughing and loving and watching over everyone.