Just about everyone has a favorite aunt. Maybe you chose this person because she is like your mom. My very, favorite aunt was named Eleanor, and we called her Aunt El. Let me tell you about her.
Aunt El was second from the oldest of five. (My mom was the oldest in the family.) She quit school before high school and went to work at the local woolen mill. Truth be told, Aunt El hated school. She stayed in that job until she retired in the sixties.
Sometimes things pop up into your memory when I think of her. I remember….
She brought me these cute, plaid skirts. I must have been about four, as I was in the hospital with pneumonia.
Aunt El loved to organize picnics and hot dog roasts at my grandma’s. They were called wiener roasts. She lived at Grandma’s until she met my uncle, got married, and moved out. I burnt my mouth on the fork that you used to roast the hot dogs. Ouch! Can still feel the pain! I still love hot dogs.
Aunt El was a great cook, and would share her recipes. She especially liked cooking for others.
I remember going up to her room at Grandma’s house. She would have her “Hi Fi” playing with her country music. Sometimes I would hear the Saturday night, country music show out of Wheeling, West Virginia on her AM radio. These were the days before FM radio, eight track tapes, cassettes, CDs and streaming music. Just vinyl records — 45 rpm, 78 rpm and 33 rpms.
She and my uncle had a baby girl that died at birth. How sad. She loved my one sister extra because their little girl would have been my sister’s age. You know, I don’t even think they named the baby.
Easter Sunday we would go to grandma’s for dinner (as we called lunch), eat then find the eggs she colored and hid for us. There were no plastic eggs but the real chicken deal. We would get her to hide them one more time, and do it all again. Oh for a piece of coconut cake with jelly beans that my mom would take to dinner. When Easter comes around each year, I think of these good memories, and get a little sad that she isn’t here to do it all again.
After I grew up and had our two boys, she would dress up like the Easter bunny, visit our kids and others she knew, and pass out her homemade chocolates. I helped make her bunny costume, and melt the chocolate and put it in the molds. Yum! One Easter she was sick, so I substituted as the Easter bunny. Fun!
There was a gospel group called the Jacob Brothers. She loved them! When they came to the community church, Aunt El somehow had them for a dinner after the performance—at her house no less, with all her homemade, delicious food. I wonder how they got their bus up the driveway. I wonder, too, if she made her famous macaroni and potatoes salads. These makes my mouth water just thinking about it them.
Aunt El would wear these cute, short sleeved, cotton robes that snapped in the front. They were called “dusters”. When my sisters and I get together, one of us always will have one. We laugh and say we turned into Aunt El.
My uncle raced cars and snowmobiles. I remember going to the drag races on Saturday night at a place called Green Pines. We would be sitting in the stands, the lights would countdown from red, yellow then green. My uncle would start, and my aunt would say, “He missed a gear”! I can still hear her saying this! She really didn’t like him racing, but he loved it. I believe she had a fear of him getting hurt.
Somehow a piece of that racing found its way into my heart and soul only to resurface after my late husband passed away. NASCAR was and is a great way to pass a lonely Sunday afternoon. Just as Aunt El, I can probably tell you a lot about the drivers. She would talk about the racers like she knew them. Honestly, you would think she did!
Aunt El was always up for a road trip. When my parents moved to Ohio, I would visit them often. They were only four hours away. She was always up for the trip. It was fun to have her with me.
It is so great to remember the good times. She loved our boys like her own, and they loved her. Their collections of He-Man and GI Joe grew because of her. Bring on the boy toys.
Aunt El will forever be in my heart. She was just a special lady. Sometimes I want to pick up the phone call her. Does God have email? Hmmm
I hope you enjoyed my blast from the past! Friday is blog day. Stop by again!
Blessings from the Blogging Grandma!