What One Auntie Knows

My husband & I just went on vacation. Our first real vacation in many years. We rode up to and through the mountains on our motorcycle. You have lots of time to think on a motorcycle and lots of thinking I did.

One thought in particular struck me and stayed with me for a lot of the 1,000+ miles we traveled. A while back my niece made and innocent comment to me. “What one Auntie knows, the other Auntie knows.”

My sister and I are called Auntie (pronounced ant-ee, not the more refined ont-ee) by our respective nieces and nephews. We even call each other Auntie. I suspect we came up with that because my sister had children first and everyone knows how hard (and cute) it is for small children to say a long drawn out name and then add an “aunt” in front of it. My name is long and drawn out. Grown-ups don’t even get it right most of the time. I could just imagine in my mind how her sweet babies would mangle it, so 'Auntie' came to life and it stuck.

Now, back to that statement that had me thinking so hard. I know my niece never really believed that phrase would live in the history of my mind, but it made one thing very clear when she said it. My sister and I are VERY close. Very close.

So close in fact that most people outside our immediate circle think we are just friends. Good friends. It has been this way our whole lives. I am fortunate, I know it. Many sisters can't even get along in the best of circumstances. Mine is my best friend.

Now, that is not to say we did not have our glaring differences and scuffles and outright fights. We do, did and have. But one of the few memorable nuggets of insight my mother gave us was that we needed to learn to get along, because we were sisters and were stuck with each other for life. The truth of the matter is that I don’t think we ever had to learn to get along, we just did. We actually liked each other and still do.

I came to the conclusion on this motorcycle journey of thought, that actually we must somehow be twins. Somewhere in the genesis of life, one of mom’s eggs split and ½ made my sister and 2 years later the other half made me. It was a medical miracle!

We don’t look exactly the same like twins do, but I chalk that up the degradation of the ovum while it rested and waited in my mom’s internalness to make twin #2 (me).

I have planned most of my life, including on this long overdue vacation, by calculating when, where, why, why not, and how often I could be with her. I have often wondered if I call (and now text) her too much. I run almost every idea I have by her so I can get her opinion. I have even made plans in my head for when we are old about how we simply must be together in the same nursing home. Adjoining rooms naturally.

I can’t tell you 100% if she feels the same way, but deep down I have to believe she does.

But back to the statement that started this whole thing; let this be a warning to all our children, family and friends - where ever you may live: if you do or say something – nothing – anything – all things – and you tell one of us…

What one Auntie knows, the other Auntie knows…