This is another entry in the series Book of Me, Written by You. This entry we are to write about someone we miss.
It would be easy for me to write about my Dad. He died in 2010. I’ve written about him extensively on this blog. So, today I’ll write about his sister, My Aunt Julie.
Aunt Julie was constantly in my life. She was always over our house visiting. I remember her at family get-togethers. She and my Dad were close.
I was the type of child that learned early to stay away from the adults. I was always off playing with my siblings, cousins, or friends. I wasn’t the type to be chatting with the adults, even relatives. I guess I was intimidated.
So, my Aunt Julie holds a special place in my life. She was the first adult outside my parents that I could really connect with. I was always chatty with her. She was one of the kindest, honest, most down to earth people that I ever met. Someone you didn’t feel had a negative bone in her body. She was much like her mother, my Grandmother, in that way. Never heard her say anything bad about anyone.
With today’s modern technology, meeting up on Facebook with relatives, and texting, it may seem odd that the reason my Aunt and I connected was philately. Yes, stamp collecting. This was back in the early 1980s. People didn’t have computers let alone the ability to print postage.
My Aunt was the one who got me interested. I had pen pals and was somewhat fascinated by the stamps that came on my envelopes. But, I didn’t start collecting until my Aunt started telling me about her collecting. Then, it blossomed from there. We both ordered stamps online and would share what we had bought at our visits. We bought the same Scott US collectors book, too.
My Aunt and I made a connection. It was through those afternoon visits that I began to learn some of my Aunt’s life story (some more I learned from my Dad). And, it was then that I learned that people aren’t black and white. My kindhearted Aunt loved watching wrestling on TV and once told me she would have liked to have tried out for roller derby. This same Aunt, my Dad told me, could have been a concert pianist. How’s that for a variety of interests!
My Aunt died in her 60s of Cancer. She died right around Thanksgiving. I do still miss her. But, my memories are happy ones. She was the type of person who left you feeling better having been around her.
