Family...

I'm the good Aunt...

I have a lot of nieces and nephews and they tend to like me because I generally encourage them to be themselves and think outside the box when their parents don't. It's not that their parents are bad parents. It's just that... well, their the parents so they HAVE to be responsible. I, on the other hand, can cheer on some mild free thinking when I see it. Haha! Case in point, I was at my sister's house for dinner tonight and my 16 year old niece came home with a friend. They'd been to the video store and rented a couple of Family Guy DVDs. My sister wasn't thrilled. She made it clear she thinks The Family Guy is crap and not meant for anyone's mind much less a 16 year old. I, however, jumped in to say how brilliantly irreverent I find that show. My sister was not amused. To her credit she didn't stop them from watching it so that was good.

Jenna, my niece, told us that she was looking forward to getting her first job next summer. She wants to go work at the Ren Faire. Her parents aren't pleased. They think she should get something that will be more "responsible" but Jen is an actress. She does all the school plays and summer shows. The Ren Faire is a great seasonal job. You only work weekends, get to dress up and be in character all day and generally get to act a fool for good money. Besides, she's only just 16 so there's plenty of time in her life for "responsible". I applauded her choice which was also met with what my family describes as the "stink eye". Stink eye is the death stare someone gives you when they don't like what you've said. The thing is, Jen is a talented actress and she loves it and she wants to try her hand at it for as long as she can. Maybe she will even make it her life's passion one day. They would rather she go to Harvard Law School but she's not convinced that's what she wants to do. She's friggan' 16. I say let her live a little.

Here's my oldest sister...giving me her own unique version of the "stink eye"!

'tis good to be Polish...

My old Auntie's are here for a visit. They are my mother's sisters. My mom is 91 years old so as you can see the term "old Auntie's" does apply here. One of my Aunt's is a nun. We don't call her "Aunt" anything...we call her Sister Loyola because that's the name she chose when she entered the convent at the tender age of 17. She's 87 now so she's had a good long run at the nun biz. She lives relatively close to us, just down in Illinois and we get to see her twice a year. She comes here in the summer for a week or two and then again in the winter for a week. My other Aunt lives in North Dakota. By car, she is 17 hours away but since she is now 85 she and one of her daughter's are flying in. A seventeen hour drive would be too much for her especially since she is on oxygen daily now.

When these three get together is quite fun. They talk a lot about growing up on the farm in Minto, ND with my Grandmother Anna and my Grandfather Stanislaus. Yes, that was his name. Stanislaus Reszka - born and raised in Warsaw, Poland. I never knew any of my grandparents. Grandpa Stanislaus died 8 months before I was born. The others all died long before that.

There will be much laughter and much eating while my Auntie's are here. There are two distinct times when the family is guaranteed good home cooked Polish food. One is at Christmas when we go all out with very traditional Polish fare and the other is when the Aunties are here. So tonight we are all getting together for dinner. There is likely to be perogis, kishka and sauerkraut. And the three of them, who look more and more like the same person as the years go by, will be laughing and talking all night long.

As I've said, my mother is 91 years old. There's not likely to be many more of these get togethers. So this one will be a little sentimental as well.