Hey Mac Families,
My favorite aunt died last week after a two year battle with liver cancer. And it sucks.
Instead of focusing on all the ways it sucks (and there are A LOT), I wanted to tell you about her, and why she is my favorite.
- My Auntie Sue was little, like my mom. Her shorter stature made her extra cute.
- Auntie Sue never turned down a lunch date, and she could shop all day long like my grandma used to, especially with my mom. One time, they got bright orange matching hoodies, and bright orange matching shoes, and they posed for a mirror selfie in their matching outfits. It was adorable.
- Auntie Sue loved to write letters, and she had the prettiest handwriting. She almost always wrote in cursive, and it was full of loops and bubbly letters. I am really grateful that I kept every letter she ever wrote to me, because I will look at that pretty handwriting often.
- Auntie Sue loved to text and chat on the phone with my mom. They called each other Ollie. I'm actually not sure how that started, but they said it all drawn out and nasally, like "Awwwwwllie".
- Auntie Sue loved frogs. She was a teenager when I was born, and I remember hanging out in her room at my grandparents' house. She had a bazillion frogs that I got to play with. Stuffed frogs, frog statues, every kind of frog you can think of. I wonder where they all went.
- Auntie Sue got braces in her thirties, while she was pregnant with her third baby. I was kinda torqued that she had gotten braces because I really dug her slightly snaggled tooth. Her orthodontist left her braces on too long, and her teeth ended up leaning in a bit. It didn't look bad at all, but man, was she upset.
- During the braces years, Auntie Sue also had a pretty tight perm, which makes me laugh to think about. Her hair was naturally bone straight.
- One time I was staying with Auntie Sue, when my cousin was about 2 or 3 years old. I was about 10 or 11. He had a mouth full of crackers but wanted to brush his teeth with my aunt's toothbrush. She let him brush teeth with his cracker mouth, then put that cracker filled toothbrush right back in her mouth without rinsing it off. It was one of the grossest things that I have ever witnessed, and it cracks me up to this day.
- When we would visit my Auntie Sue as kids, we would set up a blanket in her yard, and fill it with fun things to do. We were out there for hours, and then we would take a dip in a little pool, or run through the sprinkler in the yard. It was just my sister and me out there while my mom and Auntie Sue hung out, but it is a cherished memory from our visits at her house.
- My Auntie Sue loved my dad and they would razz each other like siblings would. I always thought it was pretty cool that they got along so well.
- Auntie Sue was always up for an adventure.
- Although we lived far from each other during my adult years, it was never awkward when we were together. I am thankful that I got to see her in person a few years ago. I wish I could have spent more time together as adults. That's always the way, though, isn't it?
My Auntie Sue was a pretty dang cool lady, and I am going to miss her very much.
(I'm also pretty mad that she was taken away long before she should've been. I'm sad for my mom, and I think about how awful it must be to lose your sister. I'm upset for my cousins, who have small children who will grow up without their grandma. And my Auntie Sue would have been SUCH a fun grandma as the kids got older, especially!)
I am mad, and I am sad, and that's okay... but I am going to zero in on everything that made my Auntie Sue the best aunt ever. Because she really was, and thinking about that is way better than the alternative. Plus, it makes me smile, just like she always did.
Peace ☮️, Love ❤️, & Macaroni 🌼,
Christen
