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My sister had her first child on Wednesday, April 29th, and that made me a first time "official" aunt. (I decided that in keeping with my family's Eastern European Jewish heritage, I wanted to be called Tante Suzanne instead of Aunt Suzanne.) Since yesterday was Mother's Day, and from the vein of self-interest from which a large number of my blog topics emerge, it made me think about the role of aunts in people's lives.
I decided many moons ago that I did not want to have children of my own. Of course, that doesn't mean that I hate children. It just means that I like being able to sleep in on weekends, not cook or plan dinner, and stare at the TV (or computer screen or the page of a book) blankly for hours on end. Even without children, these activities are hard enough to fit into my schedule (except the cooking). Kids would make the situation even more complicated. Seriously, you have to pay attention to them. Plus, I am a worrier. Having a kid would only exacerbate my level of anxiety.
Since my first friend, Alex Elliot had her son five years ago (and then a second child almost three years later), I have had the honorary role of an aunt. I discovered that I like it a lot. Basically, I can come over, her sons are excited to see me, and we can play for a little while. Then I can go home, relax, and stare blankly at the TV while Alex potty trains her sons or gives them bathes or fights with them to stop giving scraps to the dog. If I want to spoil her kids, I have a bit more discretionary income to do so since I don't have to pay for their basic necessities, and no one ever gets mad at an aunt for treating her nephews to things. Sure, I do worry about them, but really, I get all the benefits of hanging out with kids and significantly fewer of the headaches. It's awesome. I love being a part of their lives, and I hope that as they get older, I can be a trusted adult to help them out in both good and tough times.
In the last few years, I've ramped up my collection of "nieces" and "nephews," thanks to my reproductively inclined friends. Not that I don't adore my friends' kids - I totally do! - but I'm even more psyched about being a tante to my sister's baby. So, again, in my own self-interest, I thought I'd share some bloggers thoughts on their aunts.
At The Road Taken - From Borneo to America, we get to read about Aunt Vienna:
Aunt Vienna left us on March 8 many years ago and I always thought how appropriate she died on International Women’s day. In my young mind, she was the epitome of feminism and she was the fun aunt that all her nieces adored.
She never fit in the mold of a woman in an Asian society, and probably never wanted to. She lived life the way she chose to and gave her opinions with no veils or hypocrisy. I always thought if Aunt Vienna was born in America on the liberal west coast, she would have so much potential and perhaps happier, although she never left us the impression she was unhappy.
Incidentally, this reminds me of my own aunt. My aunt Chaya is my role model. She dedicated her life to public service and troublemaking in the service of disadvantaged people. In 1980, she served the Haitian refugee community with the VISTA program in the Miami area. She trained local residents to serve as advocates for orphans who arrived from Haiti, and while working in a detention center, she organized a protest against the deplorable conditions in which the prisoners were forced to live. This got her kicked out of VISTA, so she went back to her hometown of Chicago and contacted Jesse Jackson, who subsequently held a press conference to bring attention to the issue. My aunt has taught low income middle school students with learning and behavorial disorders for years, often fighting to get them apporpriate services. She's just an amazing woman. Someday, she has to write her memoir!
Garritygirl at Polymer Clay Ponderings sings the praises of
