Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Christmas carols are playing on the t.v. in the background, and the neighbors Chihuahua's are barking up a storm next door. It's 1:12 a.m. I've been thinking how weird it will be to not have snow this Christmas. Granted, I've complained for the majority of those years regarding the snow, but when you don't have it anymore...well, you know how it is.

**ooh..I just found a stash of M&M's**

My aunt went into the hospital just before Thanksgiving. She had a bout with pneumonia and hadn't been able to shake it. Long story short...she got a second case of pneumonia and finally decided to go to the hospital. It's going on 3 weeks now...they found a shadow on her x-rays and have been trying to determine what it is. The results are finally in..she has cancer. It's in my head and I'm able to completely understand and process the meaning, but...not really.

She's an extraordinary woman, my aunt. There are a handful of people that I credit for laying the foundation of my childhood: my grandmothers (Sasa & Luisa), my father, and my aunty Nu'u. As a child I spent a lot of time with my maternal grandparents,

**eww...I got a yucky M&M**

we all did. At any given time, there were at least 8 grandchildren all under the age of 12; on a good day we were at full force with 11 grandchildren all under the same roof for a whole weekend. My aunt was the designated babysitter. At the tender age of 6 or 7, I had no idea my aunt was still in high school. I didn't even know what being in high school meant. I always thought of her as one of the big people, a grown up. She took us (all of us) to the store to get candy, she drove us around to do errands, she fed us, made sure we took our naps (can you believe we took naps...all of us), and took a shower before bedtime, and made sure we went to bed on time: 8pm.

As I got older, I began to realize she was totally cool. She drove a cool car that she actually knew how to fix if it broke down, she had an insane music collection that she let us play whenever we came over to the house, she never yelled or screamed at us, and she taught us a lot of cool and interesting stuff (that we would or could never do at home). But what I love the most about her is that she always seemed fearless. She spoke her mind, stood her ground, and she would not hesitate to kick your ass if you messed with her.

I'm not sure how I deviated from the Christmas theme to aunty Nu'u. Funny how things happen that way.

**yuck, yuck..another icky M&M**

I'll tell you more about her another day...I can barely stay seated. Mornin' all!

2 comments:

EOTU said...

Hey Rita, sorry to hear about your aunty. Is this the one you see everyday? How bad is it? Anyways. Just wanted to stop by and say hi. I'm eating sunflower seeds myself... dill pickle flavored LOLOL they were on sale LOLOL (never again! :D) Anyways... where are you at now? I hope you are well. I'm glad we can still keep in touch online LOL Take care of yourself! (You do that very well! ) Love, Siana PS... yes I am good LOL ;0

Ipo said...

Your stream of consciousness is running wild today!! Love It! But I'm so sad about your aunt. It is apparent in your post that you love her dearly and that she is very important to you. And I think your stream of consciousness issue, especially with the m&m's, is trying to mask your fear. It is so hard to hear news of illness, especially cancer, when it is someone so close to your heart. I hope and pray that things will go well with you and your aunt. I will remember you both in my prayers. And by the way, I'm a firm believer that letting the gamut of emotions run it's course is okay....love you.