rekkidblogga

Aunt Petunia

So we spent the day over at my niece's house, my mom and me, enjoying the company of my niece, her husband, their 11-year-old daughter (also my niece - my great-niece but whatever; I'm her aunt - period) and their dog Roxy. We watched college hoops (Iowa won!) and my niece (the older one who's more like my big sister) and I took Roxy to the dog park. She chased tennis balls down for more than an hour before she finally started to show any hint of being tired.

Back at the house, my young niece and I sat in her upstairs room playing guitar and having some quality girl talk time alone. Her friend and the friend's six-year-old sister came over to spend the night and girl talk got even better. (With more girls, it always does.) My niece told them that it was OK to call me "Aunt" and it is; I'm totally cool with her friends - and her little sister's friends - doing that. I really like it, in fact. And so they did.

I played the girls this funny country song I've been writing on the 3/4 acoustic guitar (named "Stella") that I gave my niece for Christmas in 2004 and to my surprise they all loved it. And not because they were just being nice. They really did like it. My niece was singing along, her friend was mesmerized watching me play literally the most basic chords and the friend's little sister jumped up and started dancing, the surest sign you've got a hit on your hands.

"Aunt PETUNIA!" the friend's little sister cried out with a lisp, smiling and laughing, exposing her absent two front teeth. "Well, that was random," her sister said with the dry wisdom and wit only fifth graders can muster.

Aunt Petunia. It's not my given name but now it's the name my newest adopted niece has given to me. Nice gift, that.

posted by rekkidbraka @ 10:58 PM