Aunt Nickie

So Aunt Nickie is not really my aunt.  She's my great-aunt...30 years older than me.  I'm 42 now so that makes her kinda old.  And she's lived the life that every girl back then in Texas wanted to live--traveled in grand style, had men at her beck and call, bought and did what she wanted, and was an oil wildcatter--just your West Texas drop-dead gorgeous woman that was determined to live better than she was raised.  Ran into my great uncle, who was the best thing that Wichita Falls, Texas had going, married him, and helped him to do even better than he already was.  Nickie was gorgeous, had movie offers, modeled a tad, and other than that never worked a day in her life.  Things just happen for Nickie.  Or they did. 

Now Nickie just sits and cries that her good days are behind her.  Swears that aging is the worst thing that can happen to a girl.  People die, looks fade, and old age means you have nothing to look forward to.  Since she never had kids, I'm the end source for her pontifications and observances.

Nickie says that education and your brain are the only things you can take with you.  She says men fizzle no matter how hot they sizzle (and she sizzled through many in her day; a wedding ring did not deter her pursuits, regardless of whose finger the ring was on).   Experiences, according to her, are bittersweet.  The richer they are when you go through them, the more you miss them and reflect that your life is empty when they are gone.  Maybe not initially, but when you get old.  And I'm getting older so I think about what she says and can only hope her assertions are wrong.

That being said, one fact we ABsolutely agree on is that everybody, no matter how much they shine, has their own bucket of crazy.  Maybe hidden under a facade of lip gloss, diamonds, or a high-power job, but it's there as sure as the sun will rise.  It can start with the admission that yes, you do have an uncle who drinks a bit too much and mows his yard half-naked.  Behind that and closer to home, though, is the truth that nuttiness and inconsistency are part of the human condition.  Yeah, you may have the alcoholic uncle, but you've got your own bucket of crazy somewhere in that pretty little head of yours.

I'm here to suggest that you embrace your crazy.  Life is short.  Don't pretend like everything is above-board.  Or let's just say that, if you do, I won't believe you.