Hangin’ With Aunt Jean
October 4, 2006 | Aunt Jean
One of the best things about marrying Antique Daddy was that his Aunt Jean came with the package.
Aunt Jean is 88 and gives octogenarians a good name. She keeps a schedule that would wear out a 20-year-old, keeps up with current events, emails and surfs the internet and is on more committees and belongs to more groups than I can count. She is funny and graceful and dignified in a Katherine Hepburn sort of way. She’s too busy to be bothered with being old. And when I grow up I want to be just like her.
We recently spent the night at her house and sent her an email thanking her for her hospitality and got this response back:
“The pleasure was all mine. It was a treat to have you hanging with me. It was wonderful to hear Sean calling me by name. I tried to visualize that little four pound baby doll growing up to call my name. I have never heard my name sound so good.”
She’s the genuine article. And she makes the best pimento cheese. Ever. And I’m lucky just to get to hang with her once in a while and tell people she’s my aunt.
PHOTO: Aunt Jean looking in on brand new 4-pound Sean.
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I didn’t have an Aunt Jean, but I’ve met Aunt Jeans belonging to others; I’d be lying to say I’m not jealous.
And hey, could you share that recipe? Since I left the South, I haven’t had a decent pimento cheese sandwich.
October 5th, 2006 at 12:02 amI might regret asking but….
October 5th, 2006 at 1:30 amWhat the heck is pimento cheese?
I absolutley love older people (I’m rapidly becoming one myself). They have such wisdom and such a wonderful outlook on life (well most of them). You are blessed.
October 5th, 2006 at 8:43 amI was also wondering what pimento cheese is!
And astounded at the youthfulness of Aunt Jean. If she’s mid-80s now she must have been 80-ish in the photo, but she could easily pass for 60, maybe less. Amazing. One of my grandmother’s friends was also youthful - she went on Safari in Africa for her 80th birthday - but she looked a great deal older than Aunt Jean at the time.
October 5th, 2006 at 8:53 amOh everyone needs an Aunt Jean! I didn’t have one, but maybe I can be one.
And ask her what her elixer for life is. There is no way that I would call her 80-ish in that photo!
October 5th, 2006 at 9:01 amWow, and she knows the lingo: “hanging with me.” What a treasure.
October 5th, 2006 at 9:37 amBoy does that bring back memories. I have pics just like that with my 4 pound baby girl in it. wow. We are truely blessed. If you would like to see my 4 pounder today go to my site today and take a peek. God is so good!
October 5th, 2006 at 10:00 amBoy does that bring back memories. I have pics just like that with my 4 pound baby girl in the incubator. wow. We are truely blessed. If you would like to see my 4 pounder today go to my site today and take a peek. God is so good!
October 5th, 2006 at 10:00 amThank God for people like that! My great-grandmother was so much like Aunt Jean. I miss her!
October 5th, 2006 at 10:53 amAhh, she sounds wonderful! And in that picture, she looks so young!
My own mom will be turning 80 next spring…perhaps not as youthful as Aunt Jean but still young at heart, nonetheless…at least she has a computer and a blog, which is something!
October 5th, 2006 at 10:56 amI’ll chime in with everyone else. She looks amazing! And I want to be just like her. :-)
October 5th, 2006 at 1:17 pmThat lady is not in her 80s. You’re fibbing us, Antique Mommy!
October 5th, 2006 at 5:39 pmI used to work for a lady like that. She was awesome. She always cracked me up. I want to be like her, and like your Auntie Jean, when I grow up too!
She sounds awesome. Makes 80 looks like a bunch of fun.
October 5th, 2006 at 7:04 pmNuh-uh! That woman is not in her 80’s!!!! She has the hair of a 30 year old! Goodness, I want to have her genes.
October 5th, 2006 at 7:33 pmThank you all for your kind words about my Aunt Jean. My mama-in-law is 80, so that makes her big sister, Aunt Jean, 87 or thereabouts. She does have the most bouncin’ and behavin’ hair you ever did see.
October 5th, 2006 at 8:20 pmWOW. I would’ve thought she was in her 40’s or 50’s, from that shot! Amazing!!!
I had an aunt like that, who left life way too soon (in her late 60’s). I miss her terribly but feel SO incredibly blessed to have those memories to hold onto. It’s more than many people ever have, you know?
October 10th, 2006 at 11:32 amThat is really sweet!
She doesn’t look that old.
October 12th, 2006 at 10:46 pm