Aunties

I agree in general jings but DH'S side are not brilliant at it. My side are better. My daughters are fabulous aunties to their sisters' children.

My aunties were cr*p. One was my godmother too and she spent all my inheritance (and everyone else's!!) from my grandparents before we got it and the other one fell out with my mum so ignored us.

My great Aunts, on the other hand, were fabulous, kind and loving, mischievous and impish.

I have two remaining aunties.

My closest auntie had a sad life, really. She was married and expecting her first child when her husband was killed in an accident at work. She miscarried her child (or had a still birth; not sure which).

She remarried and had a son, who was plagued with mental health problems from an early age. She also suffered with Pernicious Anaemia.

Her second husband died aged 55 of a heart attack.

When my mother died my auntie lost the will to live, basically. Her son (still living with her) couldn't cope and she went to live in a care home. She died about a year later.

She was a lovely woman, always with something nice to say about people; not a nasty bone in her body.

My other aunties were, in hindsight, great role models. They were from a very poor background, went to a prestigious grammar school and had careers at a time when careers for women weren't really encouraged. One became a senior nurse and the other a teacher. They are both still alive, and, touch wood, fit and active.

My DM was a seventh daughter, but I was a late arrival for my parents so I never got to know her older sisters. One of the others was our posh auntie (married a headteacher, moved down South, drank wine, had a cine camera), one was lovely and smiley with apple cheeks and a husband with a wooden leg, one was always glass half empty and used to make us ROFL with her Christmas letters full of woe and doom. DF's sister was cuddly and would crush you in a massive hug - sadly she developed early onset Alzheimers and lost all memory of me (though she remembered my sister). Lovely ladies, all long gone and all worth celebrating

I had 7 aunties, 3 on Mum's side and 4 on Dad's side. But they've all gone now . The last one died aged 101 a few years ago.
We were close to all of them, they were all different characters. My favourite was Auntie Pat, my namesake. She married a farmer, had 2 sons, one still alive. See him now and again. A bit of a rogue !

The only auntie I had had hairy nipples!

How do you know?!

Was she a man?

No - my Mum told me - she saw her breast feed and the baby kept sneezing when the bristles went up his nose!

I've just spluttered my tea out!

Tmi!

I had nine aunts , nine uncles and three dozen cousins. I had a favourite Aunty, who is still alive, but didn't see the others often enough to know who belonged to who until I was grown up.
I am Aunty to seven.

My DH just asked me what I am laughing about!

I have two Aunties left - my favourite one and a busybody one. My family all lived in one city when I was a child, but we ended up all over the UK and Ireland. My favourite lives in Ireland and we can go for ages without speaking on the phone, but still chat like we just saw each other yesterday.

I love being an Auntie!

I only had one auntie and she was lovely. I was the only girl in my generation and I don't think she liked boys all that much. She had one son and said 'that was enough, thank you very much!'

She always made a fuss of me and we remained close until she died.

One puzzling thing though.....She always referred to the 'change' as the 'monoplus'

Shouldn't laugh. Most people would have just called it 'the change'.

Yeah, you said that.

I had two very elderly great aunts. We visited them three or four times a year and were terrified of them.we were forewarned to be on our best behaviour. My mother had two sisters and they were wonderful aunts. I'm still particularly close to one. She's more like a sister now and I love her. My dad only had one sister and she was quite 'proper' we thought her 'posh' at the time. Now I realise that she wasn't at all. I like being an aunty and I'm fond of my nieces and I hope they are fond of me.

I used to have eight aunts and eight uncles, but there are only two left. One is a sainted aunt and one a giddy aunt, so I can say "My giddy aunt!" or "My sainted aunt!"

The giddy aunt is now 94, but still sprightly, despite what she calls "various aches and pains". She was the aunt who always had some interesting craft or other on the go, taught me daft songs (Dan, Dan the waterworks man, The woodpecker's hole, and such like) She was a great giggler, and had stories of when she was young - like her four brothers being scornful of the two-piece swimsuit she made for herself, saying all she needed was two pennies.

THe sainted aunt is only a few years older than me, so is more like a sister. She Got Religion in her teens and still has it. She joined a denomination sect which gets a lot of stick (on GN as well as in the real world) but it has never taken her away from her family, or turned her into a sourpuss, though perhaps sainted is a bit of an exaggeration. We are still in touch frequently and have been on holiday together.

The only aunt I might have had, died at 18months in 1911, from whooping cough....
I had two uncles on my father's side who didn't have children, and my mother was an only child - so I ended up with no first cousins either!

(But I have found various more distant cousins through my family history, and they are spread over the world.)

I had 3 terrific great aunts. One married but 2 were part of the sad 'surplus' 2 million women left after the first World War. Wonderful characters. One was a nurse and ended up with her own private hospital (pre NHS). They were always great fun. Sad they never had their own children and grandchildren. They would have been wonderful Mums and Grans.

Elegran your aunts sound great.

On my father's side I had two lovely aunts who both died young and one who could give 'Hyacinth Bucket' a run for her money in the snob department. I remember visiting her when I was about 14 and being told not to sit on the "expensive-Parker-Knoll-leather-armchairs-with-footstool" as they were reserved for 'proper' visitors. My poor cousin used to roll his eyes with embarrassment at her snobbery. She didn't approve of me and was a little bit cross that I got into the same grammar school as her older son (who was a real sweetie and made up for his mother's awfulness).

My mother had only one sister who was very abrupt and, to me, quite scary.

My daughters and daughter in law are lovely aunties though and I think my grandchildren are very lucky to have them.

Oh, nostalgia for aunts! Nellie who at 90 unexpectedly announced 'I hate that name'!' She reinstated her real name and enjoyed the next 14 years as Ellen. I still miss her Victoria sponges and find myself about to buy her a jar of damson jam or Thornton's toffee. She loved 'When I am old I shall wear purple' so we made sure she had purple jumpers.
And the others, hardworking, reliable, loving and loved. Wish I had more than one left to reminisce and laugh with now.

Oh, great aunts - now then! I had a Great Aunt Mary. Always wore long dark Victorian style frocks with little lace inserts at the bosom, lisle stockings, buttoned shoes and a hat with cherries bobbing about on it. She was very intelligent, just a tad eccentric, had a cat called Cat (very puzzling to a 5 year old) and used to take her earthenware jug up the road to the pub off-licence window every evening to have it filled with stout, much to my grandmother's shame (she was more into sweet sherry ). She'd been married to a police sergeant, eventually, after being secretly engaged for 10 years because his mother didn't like her. I thought she was great, and one of my daughters has Mary as her middle name.