The Cool Aunt

I was planning to blog about the house and back-up blog ideas included my thoughts on how it is already over 80 degrees F in Houston most days or how I can't believe that there can possibly be as many accidents as there are every day in Houston. Instead I'd like to blog about a conversation I had with a friend last weekend.

My friend is going to be an aunt for the first time. She, like me, grew up with cousins around her age and we were talking about being an aunt without children. I thought back a few decades, to before adulthood, before I grew disconnected from my family, to a time when my childless aunt was one of the coolest people I knew. Sure my other aunts and uncles had kids my age but that meant that I had a relationship with their children, my cousins, but not necessarily them. My childless aunt though was awesome. She spoke to me like I was an adult, or at least it felt that way at the time. I was able to hang out with an adult (who wasn't my parents) and have an adult friend. It made me feel adult and important.

Interestingly, the whole experience was so significant to me that it has made me actively want to have that childless-aunt time with my own niece and nephews. This time that I have now is so precious to me. When I spend time with those kids, all of my attention can be on them- their concerns and interests, their well-being and happiness. I wouldn't trade it for the world.

So here's to all the aunts and uncles without children who get to focus their love, energy, and attention on their siblings little ones.

And just because it's important to start them early, this is a picture of me explaining to my niece about volcanoes around the world...