Aunt Stuff called this morning, she is one of those folks who seemed to know the right time to call. There was Aunt Stuff on the phone right before I was about to use Aunt Connie's recipe for cobbler instead of MeMaw's recipe. You would have thought Aunt Connie's recipe was poison. Aunt Stuff howled, "how could you ever consider using Connie's recipe?.....It's made of turpentine!!" Tragedy averted, MeMaw's cobbler prevailed and Aunt Stuff made me promise to check with her before ever using an unapproved family recipe.
Then the time she called after I found out the Houston Chronicle offered me an opportunity to write a column for them. I was so excited!! I went home and told my parents and all they said was, "how much does it pay?" I felt the Chronicle was taking a huge chance on a twenty-two year old kid and the fact they weren't paying me wasn't important. The reaction of my parents hurt so much that I went into my room and threw my purse through the window. May I just say the sound of breaking glass felt great....Later that day Aunt Stuff just happened to call. I told her the whole pitiful story...she stopped me and said I could write, she had proof....my initials were still on her Duncan Phyfe dining room table from a thank you note lesson that went horribly wrong. She also told me to quit crying and write about it. Unfortunately I failed to follow her advice and didn't write again for years. At that time I wasn't strong or courageous enough in my personal life to ignore parental opposition. I had to let life teach me about strength and courage....watching Aunt Stuff was a big part of that. She is fearless.
Aunt Stuff, great hurricane fighter, fisherwoman and philosopher. She is that woman who will die fighting an oil rig fire in her nineties. She knows the right things to say, and doesn't hesitate to say them. She keeps her sense of balance strong by never forgetting who she is and what her passions are. Unless you want a fiery speech that Winston Churchill would be envious of, don't mention politics, even if you agree with her.. Unless you are completely without sense never mention Oklahoma in the same breath as her beloved Longhorns, don't leave the dinner table without talking about football....and never forget Texans invented Barbecue. She always said it takes a special kind of crazy to bury your food in the ground for 24 hours, covered with mesquite wood and then eat it with sauce the family argued and fought over for as long as you could remember.
Aunt Stuff is a character, and life is filled with characters......they are what makes life so much fun!!!
