The Wild Aunt

My mother’s youngest sister used to be wild in her day; it must have been the late 80’s if I remember right… I can recall when she was 30. She would get the cutest boyfriends and always came around to show them off. My sister & I still go down the long list of boyfriends trying to remember their names, and picking out the cutest ones. Our all time favorite was a guy named Barend, and all we can remember about him was his green Nissan 1400 bakkie.

We had a couple of close calls through the years. Once we got home from holiday and saw 4 pairs of shoes lined up at the front door. Her explanation was that she couldn’t afford the rent at their previous place and moved into our house temporally. One day she ran over her ex-husband deliberately near our front door with a Nissan Langley that he bought her. He would not move in front of the car, so she decided to go ahead and let him pay the consequences… Nothing stopped her. Not even a man in front of a car begging her to talk to him.

The last time she got married it must have been the 5th time. I stopped counting at number 3. One guy she married twice, but don’t ask me his name. A friend of mine asked why we did not attend the wedding, and I replied that I couldn’t care less about someone who will be divorced in a couple of months anyway.

It was in Cape Town last year that I had the pleasure of seeing her again after many years. The wild care-free days was long gone, and were replaced by age spots and deep lines down her cheeks that made me realize she was on the other side of 50 already and counting.

It was only when she held her grandson in her arms that I saw my real Aunt. She wasn’t that bad after all, and it was like she poured all the love she could not give through her wild years into that child resting in her lap.

Life has been an adventure all those years growing up with her in and out of our house. She has lived a full life up to now, and will always be a part of us. If I can choose to remember her I would recall her thirties, when she was my Wild aunt waiting for the next adventure.