Auntie Role

I’m convinced that there is no better status to hold than that of an Aunt. I have 10. 10 glorious, wonderful Aunts. Donna, Sherry, Jan, Mary Jane, Charlene, Joyce, Mary, Tina, and Elaine.  Oh and I love them! I love because of the way they love me, the way they are my friend and mom. The way we have fun, when I was little and still today.

And I am an Aunt too! I have 6 nieces and nephews, but with my brothers foster son in china, and my cousin Mandy’s three, I feel like I have 10. 10 glorious, wonderful nieces and nephews. Solomon, Benjamin, Ellenor, Havilah, Zoe, Esther, An, Dom, Eli and Mia. Oh and I love them! I love the way they love me, the way we are friends, the way we play and have fun.

I think what makes this role the most wonderful is how it is rule breaking. It is like taking the best parts of all other rols, defying any negative sanctions, and justifying every last action.  As an aunt, you can get way with it, just because.

You nurture like a mother

        spoil like a grandma

        tell secrets like an older sister

        train like a teacher

        and play like a friend.

But, at the end of the day, you love like an aunt. And what a joy this is! This caps all other roles, and emotions and trumps all other positions. In this deck, the Aunt Card wins every hand.

I am thankful

I am thankful. For a new job at MACYS, downtown, and when I exit the building I find myself in a whirl of winter wonderland, crisp air slapping my leathered cheeks.

I am thankful to come home, to a house that is a home, full of people enjoying a Thanksgiving meal, and that our Land lord and her mother (owner of the house who spent 30 Thanksgivings here) came, to have food to share and save for leftovers, to have good conversation that continued to refer to scripture and the goodness and Joy of the Lord, and that cleaning became a room mate bonding time that led to shot glasses of organic apple cider and prayer over our week and other roommates.

I am thankful that my family is here, that I get to see my brother before he returns to China, that my parents live close enough for me to see them whenever I need, that my cousins Nick and Mandy let me be a part of their family night and welcome me into their heart and home always, and that my sister, though she is far away, is one of my closest friends.

I am thankful that I have such amazing friends, who love me in such amazing ways, who tell me stories and keep me up at night, who call me randomly, who send me notes that make me happy, that teach me about being a wife, and show me through their lives and responses how to be a woman who serves the Lord.

I am thankful that I serve a God who loves unconditionally, and gives graciously, and lavishes lovey things, who responds in gentleness and controls in greatness and surprises with consistency, who places me where I need to be and knows me better than I do myself, who takes great delight in me and in the very little things that bring me delight and that he is the center of my very delight.