Watch out! Here comes another year.
The years, they just keep on coming. Ogden Nash once put it this way:
The clock is crouching, dark and small,
Like a time bomb in the hall.
Hark, it’s midnight, children dear.
Duck! Here comes another year!
Some of us have collected up a lot of years. Eighty-two in my case.
My Aunt Grace had even more years than that under her belt by the time she was done with this planet, 98 all told. I wrote this piece about her back in 2013, not long after she died. Her name was Grace, but I thought of her as my Aunt Glamorous.
Iben says
I wish I had had more time with (Great) Aunt Grace. She made a big impression on me too! Fun to read her advice there. Thanks for sharing, Aunt Barb!
Barbara Falconer Newhall says
Yes. We all wanted a little more of Aunt Grace.
Ann Teixeira says
One of your BEST stories, Barb! What a wonderful model to have influence your life — way ahead of her time through that independent streak some of us have deep within us. Her clear-headed honesty is so refreshing — in an era when my mother thoughts ‘breasts’ were unmentionables. I had to ask what ‘sanitary napkins’ were, not because I didn’t know through my friends but as my way to force her to talk about them and their use! A lucky girl you were!
Barbara Falconer Newhall says
As a kid, I was aware that my Aunt Grace was very different from my mother (who was a lot like yours). But I probably didn’t realize what a profound effect she and some of the other women on my father’s side of the family were having on me and my idea of what a woman could do.
Trudy says
I have a funny memory of your aunt. My brother David was in Ann Arbor the summer of 1969 (just before Rich and I married) – and so was I. He phoned to share an unexpected call from Aunt Grace. She began the call with a scold, “David, why haven’t you been in touch.” David replied, “I don’t have an aunt Grace. You must have called the wrong number.” She, “This isn’t David Falconer?” David knew I had a good friend with that last name and called me to see if you had a brother in town. What an amazing coincidence!
Barbara Falconer Newhall says
Wow. I never heard that story. My brother had been living in Ann Arbor just before that. I wonder how she got the numbers mixed up. A mystery.