The Mean Aunt

by Julie DeCoria

Two of my very favorite people, Grandpa Havolyn and Aunt Leslie, are going through the hells of cancer right now I've been think a lot about them today and wanted to express my love for them. My heart is feeling a little tender and a little heavy and I want to share.(Haley wrote the post about my Grandpa Havolyn. She says it better than I can)

This is my "Mean Aunt."

My Mean Aunt is so strong.

There is nothing she hasn't done, can't do, fix, wallpaper, remedy, find, mend, or heal. She does everything

My Mean Aunt loves so much. She is so selfless, caring, tender, nurturing, and kind. A living Band-aid, but the permanent, water-proof kind.

My Mean Aunt is brave. She does all the scary stuff that no one else knows how to deal with. She fights for the good, the poor, the beaten, the hopeless, the abused.

My Mean Aunt saves lives. Twelve years ago, she saved the life of my dad, literally. She has saved the lives of her sisters, her children, her parents, her nieces, and countless strangers who have had no one else to lean on. She saves, everyday.

My Mean Aunt really isn't so mean. She is Amazing.

My Mean Aunt has cancer. But I know because of all her Mean Aunt qualities, she will beat this. She comes from a long line of unbelievably strong women, and has been followed by many other women no less strong and amazing. She doesn't have it in her to not beat it.

SDLY

* comments *

Okay, okay, I tell myself, enough tears! The Mean Aunt said she didn't want a pity party, so I will try to do my part. It is just that the Mean Aunt means the world to me!If it weren't for her, I don't know where I would be.The Mean Aunt has been my shoulder to lean on, my listening ear and my voice of encouragement. The Mean Aunt magically appeared everytime I started to feel sorry for myself, and somehow she managed to take part of my burden away, everytime she came. The Mean Aunt stood unashamedly at by side thru the very thickest and thinnest of times. She did and said all the right things. She was uplifting, encouraging and alwasys full of hope. She helped to mend my broken heart. She was relentless. She never gave up, she never let up. I must have worn her out somedays, but she never let me know it. She doesn't give up on the people she loves. She has helped me move, paint, lay wood flooring, replace doorknobs, plant flower beds, refinish furniture, tend my babies, wallpaper and remodel. She has been a second mom to my girls at times when I wasn't the mom I should have been, how do you say repay someone for that? I have been the direct beneficiary of her giving heart and true devotion for 48 years now. Years and years of unsolicited help with no grumbling from her. So I sit here as tears roll quietly down my cheeks, counting the ways that my life is better, happier and easier because of a Mean Aunt.I don't know how to repay her, but I know that I am going to try. ...Melanie