#aunthood

It's helpful that this dog is all one color (orange; he is Vizsla, he is just orange).

The aunt without children has always been an object of fascination in culture and literature. Whether the nurturing aunt who takes on an orphan like Peter ‘Spiderman’ Parker's Aunt May; the embittered Aunt Lydia of the Handmaid’s Tale; or the worldly eccentric like Aunt Augusta in Graham Greene's Travels with my Aunt, the aunt has always illustrated a sort of ‘other’.  Many portrayals have tended to position aunthood as a second-best option to motherhood, or a cautionary tale about women who operate outside the mainstream expectation of what women ‘should’ be.

Patricia Sotirin, professor of communication at Michigan Technological University, US, says it “speaks to the paucity of our language” that we don't really have a meaningful way of describing a woman who makes a positive choice to pursue aunthood over motherhood. Sotirin, who has co-written two books about aunts in culture and society, argues aunts still “don't get the respect and recognition that they deserve for their importance in our lives”.

My niece (5) and nephew (7) are coming to town to stay with my parents while their parents take a vacation. They video-called me yesterday to ask if I'd be there when they got in, and I said no, I was still sick, they could probably hear it in my voice. And my nephew said, very matter-of-factly, "You don't sound any different."

I told my husband about it and he said "wishful thinking." I told my sister and she said "innocent gaslighting." He wants me to come play; therefore, I cannot be sick, as that conflicts with his wishes.

I'm hoping to see them. They're here until Sunday, and I'm feeling better from this cold every day, and hey, I'll wear a mask. But anyway, I'm flattered by how much they like me. There's nothing quite like being a beloved aunt.