…is hearing my niece or my nephews say “I love you.”
Granted, I live in New Jersey and don’t get down to Mississippi to see them near as much as I’d like to but they love me anyway. I talk to my youngest nephew Jacob whenever I happen to pop on to Battle.net. He’s a gamer like me and we have a lot in common. I’m hoping that he’ll take up programming and go to college for it and eventually work for a gaming company doing something he loves. My nephew Seth and I don’t have as much in common but I do try to figure out what interests we might share so that I can be close to him, too. Thus far, it’s just football (and he’s way more into it than I am) and Southern history that we both like but I’m hoping that, deep down, there’s a history buff underneath the football player who I can connect with.
And my niece. My little Mini-me. Nothing can brighten my day like talking to her on the phone and hearing her tell me how much she likes Doctor Who. When her mothers mention that she’s got a smart mouth, I grin ear-to-ear knowing that she got that from me. She looks just like me and she seems to love her ol’ Aunt G.K. When I last visited for Christmas and had a migraine, she just had to follow me into my room when I went to lay down with a cold cloth on my forehead to try to get rid of it. She snuggled up next to me and fell asleep with me. She even said she had a headache, too (though she didn’t. She just wants to be like me, I guess, which is weird but awesome).
I don’t have any kids of my own (yet). But I still love hanging out with my nephews and my niece. I love my parents and my sisters but nothing can make me smile as brightly as hearing one of the kids say they love me and that they’re looking forward to seeing me again. Nothing.
That’s the most awesome part of being the weird aunt. Because, at the end of the day, no matter how strange I am, those kids think I’m awesome enough to call me “Aunt Kelly.”
— G.K.
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