Thankfulness Challenge - Day 5

There is nothing greater then seeing a little person come into the world, get to hold them, nurture them, play with them, love them, and then …..send them home. Don’t get me wrong I’m sure having kids is awesome and all but having nephews or in Golden’s case nieces is just … well it’s just fantastic. You get all the fun, all the love, all the joy, and sometimes all the secrets without having to then turn around and pay for their college. Plus if they start to get on your nerves you take them back to their parents, or if they want something and you don’t want to pay for it you say I have to ask your parents first then blame them on why you can’t get it and thus you are allowed to keep your best aunt ever status! By birth as an aunt you get to be part of their lives from day one, you watch the mom (AKA your sister or in mine and Golden’s case Sister-in-law) go through the pregnancy, from a far, you get to buy all the fun stuff you want (that your bank account allows anyway), and you get to babysit when ever you darn well want to. You get the joys of a kid without the swollen ankles; without the need to yarf every few seconds for a few months, and without all that pain as you bring the kid in the world. Nope you get to sit back with your feet up and wait for the love and admiration to come from those little eyes as they look up at you for the first time and think “who are you?!”

You get to take a part in molding their personality, in shaping their belief system , in teaching them the things important to you but if they throw a hissy fit in the store people are not looking at you they are looking at their parents, even on those occasions when you might have egged them on a little.

Yep being an aunt is awesome.

The best part is when your nephew/niece calls you to tell you about a movie they saw, or a book they read, or a musical artist they like and they want to share it with you because “you share so much with me.” That’s a great moment. When they reach that age when you aren’t telling them stuff you are listening as much as talking (sometimes you’d love to get a word in edge wise but even that’s ok sometimes), that first moment you realize “holy cow we just had an entire conversation.” Is a moment you want to dive into and live forever.

I’ve been lucky that my nephews have not been too far away I’m able to be there for important events for them, school functions, sporting events, or just to babysit. I can’t imagine not being part of their everyday world. My older nephew called (yes that’s right he CALLS ME OFTEN!) last week to discuss To Kill A Mockingbird, they were reading it in class, and while on the phone with him I was reminded of parts of the book I had forgotten. I got to take him to his first midnight movie (the final Harry Potter Movie—cause the rule was he had to read the books before he could see the movie (so they wouldn’t scare him) and that was the only one not released yet when he finished). I got to introduce him to the Harry Potter series, which he read all 7 books in the course of like 5 months and as he read them we’d discuss them at length. We’d talk about the challenges Harry was going through and exchange ideas on how it could have gone differently, what we liked what we didn’t like. IT.WAS.AWESOME!

My younger nephew has seen us have these conversations and will call and do the same now that he’s getting older. He’ll send me a book and ask me to read it so we can talk about it and of course I do. He sent me an e-mail a few months ago (he has yet to acquire a cell phone) about a Disney movie that was advertised that he wanted to go see. After looking it up I was all in. I often use them to go see movies so that I’m not the creepy alone person sitting in the back of the theater making the other parents nervous. Hey just cause I don’t have kids doesn’t mean I don’t wanna see the Smurfs too!

I know Golden shares the same view about her nieces but she does often wish their activities had later start dates, I’m with her on that. Getting up at 6 to get to a football game and sit on medal bleachers to freeze your tail off isn’t fun, tho it does go a long way in earning you the “best aunt ever title.” If you haven't read Golden's trip to the theater with her super smart older niece you simply must it's a perfect view of the kind of relationship a Aunt has with their niece/nephew --> Golden takes one for team

So on day 5 I’m thankful that God made Golden and I aunties allowing us to spoil our nieces/nephews, as is our God given right as “auntie.” Since Golden has nieces I get to live through her and buy them the My Little Pony’s or the Rainbow Brite (that’s right she’s coming back) characters and the girly things my boys just aren’t into. So for me it is truly a win-win situation!

-Marcy (@beaslma) – AKA Best Aunt Ever***

-golden (@theonlygolden) – AKA Best Aunt Ever**

**to two little girls

***What can I say I had the title first so Golden’s had to have an asterisk! :D