Thursday, November 18, 2021
I loved Aunt Kathy. It wasn't until I was about 8-10, that I realized that we weren't actually related! Haha I remember I had a couple of dollars in my pocket(of course). I got a dollar every time I ran into the house to grab something. Looking back, I think she realized that I loved to feel useful. After the first time she gave me a dollar, she only paid me when I was getting something for her. We were on our way out from the gathering and I asked daddy "why didn't you tell me that you had another sister?!" In my mind, I was just making connections about who is related to who in our family tree. Aunt Diana was my dads twin and Aunt Barbara was his little sister, that I knew for certain. But, I was trying to figure out where Aunt Kathy fit in the family line. He stopped and looked at me and teased me about not knowing that he had two sisters. -if any one knew Henry Westrich, you know that he thought he was funny(and I did too)- I looked him dead in the eyes and asked about Aunt Kathy. "Aunt Kathy is Aunt Diana's sister! She told me! I didn't know that you had another sister!?" Daddy smoked two hole cigarettes standing outside arguing with me before I realized that she wasn't actually related to us. That was the first time I recognized that family isn't always blood related. Aunt Kathy, was not related to a lot of us by blood, but she loved us just the same. That is the legacy I will remember. The woman who took me, like many others, and assimilated us into her loving long reaching family.
(719) 207-8855
