Haiti Happenings: Aunts

This post is primarily a shout out to my aunts. My dad has one sister, and my mom has three sisters. That means that I have had the blessing of having four amazing aunts. Each of them has been special and important in my life for different reasons and in different ways.

I'm going to start with my Aunt Jean because I knew her the shortest amount of time--she died when I was just about eight years old. I may not have known her for long, but she sure created lasting memories in a short time. I remember her always being willing to play with us. She always had patience with us. I remember her sending me postcards when she was in Italy on vacation (I kept those postcards for years!). What I remember most, though, was her letting my cousins and me play with her long hair. It seemed that she would let us brush and braid and mess with her hair for hours. And, she taught us all how to play Dare Base, a family favorite (right Mike Vegter??).

Next comes my Aunt Mary, another of my mom's sisters. She's the one I was always a bit in awe of because of her beauty. That, and she was just about the smartest person I knew growing up. I thought she knew everything! As I grew older, I appreciated her dry sense of humor. I also valued knowing that she loved me unconditionally, no matter how much I screwed up (and I did screw up at times, as all kids do). Now that I'm an adult, I know she's not just smart, but she's wise. She listens to me when I need to talk and never judges me.

My Aunt Louise is the oldest of my mother's sisters. Aunt Louise's house always felt comfortable, like anyone was always welcome any time. She was the one that I could ask any questions of without having to feel afraid of looking stupid. And trust me, I had lots of questions about cooking, sewing, farming, etc. Now, it's not that my mom didn't know those things; she does. If my mom wasn't around to ask, I turned to Aunt Louise. One time in college, my senior year, my parents were out of the country on a trip. I had goofed up some cookies I was making, and I called Aunt Louise for help. She came through long distance, over the phone. Now that's a pro! When I needed to know how to knit dish cloths for my trip to Haiti, I turned to Aunt Louise! She's a Teacher, just like her parents and her sisters.

The last aunt on the list is Aunt Rachel, my father's younger sister. She lives in Massachusetts, and I was able to visit her often during the summers because my Grandma Schumacher took me to visit them. I have great memories of those visits, and especially how she always made me feel welcome. I was (and still am) a pretty shy kid, but she never seemed bothered by my shyness and how it made it hard for me to talk sometimes. She just rolled with it and often had to maintain one-sided conversations while I worked up the courage to speak! One thing that I've learned from her is generosity. No matter what she thought I might want or need to make my visits even more special, she delivered.

Now, you're all probably wondering why this shout out to aunts. It's because I sometimes don't know what my relationship is with the kids here at Notre Maison/St. Joe's. I'm not "the parent in charge" who can discipline--that's Gertrude. I've been here long enough that I'm not just an in-and-out visitor who showers candy on the kids. It's not a "big sister" type relationship. It's something different. I think my role is more that of an aunt. I play with the kids. I talk with them and answer their questions. I try to explain things to them about what's polite and what's not. I don't have to discipline them lots. But, when I do have to reprimand them, they respond. For the most part.

Almost done

All of this is in preparation of the photos to come. This morning the girls wanted to "do my hair." So I let them. As they tugged and yanked on my hair, I kept thinking of Aunt Jean and the patience my other aunts extended to me over the years. I thought about what special relationships those have been to me. That's also why I let the girls take pictures of my hair when they had finished and why I actually walked around the orphanage for others to see the finished product. I drew the line, however, at going outside the compound walls!