As Aunts Go

I'd sit in awe each morning as she applied her makeup, shocked she could make herself even prettier than she already was. Or maybe it was that I just loved trying to chew on the mascara stick.

I remember getting to walk her to catch the school bus some mornings, or getting to go along to school events and be with her and her friends. Even at such a young age I felt cool.

She'd be there to save me from the fashion disasters of suspenders or a head to toe cowboy outfit. Or she would rush in to turn my school projects into something people envied rather than something I was embarrassed by. 

She was the one who was angry when someone told me there was no Santa, and was adamant (and successful) in convincing me that he was real.

I'd come home to find scavenger hunts she had meticulously laid out for me throughout the house, always with a present at the end. She'd sit with me for hours and help me make art pieces out of pasta shells.

She opened up my world outside that of Southeastern Oklahoma, giving me the chance to go visit her in many different states where she would show me museums and amusement parks I didn't even know existed. If I couldn't visit then I'd get letters and pictures to show me where she was and what she was doing. The times she would be coming to visit us then I would post myself at a window for hours, waiting to see her car come rolling down the driveway. 

She was there to help me with prom, fix my hair, take the pictures, say the embarrassing comments. She taught me about God, took me to church, got me involved. 

For some reason I have always looked more like her than anyone else in my family (which I don't mind), and we've always had a sort of understanding between the two of us about how we MUST have been adopted to end up in the midst of our crazy family. 

She's wiped my tears, held me tight, taught me love, and played a major role in shaping me into the man I am today, and I'm pretty sure my brother can say the same.

She is the big sister I always wanted, the mother I needed, and the Aunt everyone deserves to have.