Saturday, April 17, 2010

What's So Great About It?

I'm just posting tonight to quash a rumor started in the comments yesterday by Amy as regards my planned manufacture of adorable flannel burp cloths. These cloths are NOT FOR MY PERSONAL USE. I am too old for that, Amy - the baby factory has shut itself down, apparently. No, these burp cloths are for my niece's baby, due in August.

That's right - I am about to become a great-aunt. That's what I get for marrying a guy who is way younger than his siblings - premature great-auntdom. And I never even got to be a real aunt - his nieces were half-grown by the time Larry and I were married, and we've only seen them rarely since.

I'm having an identity crisis. I don't feel old enough to be a great or grand anything. Maybe I should go get myself a cane. Or a decent rocking chair...

[Photo credit: superlaugh.com]

18 comments:

  1. You might not be old enough, but if you have an 18-year-old son, who the hell knows.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You should go with Aunt-to-The-Max or Auntie Toomuch or "I'm not your greataunt, I'm your Awesome Aunt!."

    And congrats. I love being an uncle.

    ReplyDelete
  3. congrats on becoming a great aunt!! i love mine, though she's 90 now.

    FourthGradeNothing.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm a great-aunt too, but I always leave off the "great" when I am referring to my nephews! It just makes me feel older than I need to.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Welcome to the club! Due to huge sibling age spans, I was an aunt at age 8, and a great aunt at age 30!

    But,then I am pretty awesome...I would've been a great aunt anyhow (nark nark nark)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I have 3 grand-nieces with one more due next month, and they are all adorable! The parents of these precious baby girls are my niece & nephews who were babies and preschoolers when I met them (kids of dh's sister -- she'll be 50 in June). I'm just sorry we live so far away.
    I guess I should get on the ball and mail their baby gifts!

    ReplyDelete
  7. My step son has children older than my youngest three...not exactly a fountain of youth feeling to tap into. I also have a great nephew, with thanks to my hubby's side of the family, and, if you wanted to be exact, great greats overseas as well. My own Aunt is really active in my children's lives, and the kids keep telling me that she is, "practically younger than you are Mom," though she is not.

    ReplyDelete
  8. When I was pregnant with my first child (& my mil's first grandchild) my mother in law insisted she was too young to be called "Grandma." I still don't get this, considering my husband's older sister was already 30, and it's not like my mil had children super young. I mean, she was completely in the age range when one might expect to become a grandmother. Anyway, she went through about five names before she settled on one she was content with. (No way was she going to let the future child come up with a cute name to call her on his own, either.) I kept all the cards she signed with the various permutations as she kept changing her mind, so I can show my children concrete proof that she's nuts. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Ummm...I've got 9 great nieces and nephews and am still a sexy looking babe. Now, I gotta got pluck these hairs off my upper lip...

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ooh... a new baby to cuddle. Soft burp cloths are a great gift. Congratulations to your family.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Try becoming a GRANDparent at the age of 39.

    ReplyDelete
  12. When I got married at 26, I became an instant great-aunt, and some of the nieces and nephews are my age or older. Became a mother at nearly 40. People often think our boys are our grandchildren.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Since my mom's younger sister and I are both Dorothy's, she decided that she is the great aunt Dot, I'm the mediocre aunt Dot to my nieces and nephews.

    Hubby is 51 and now a great uncle, though he refuses to believe me that his nephews new baby is a great nephew. What can I say, hubby is the youngest and we got married on his 30th birthday. His older brothers were 34, 38 and 42 then.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Have to thank my (step)son and his wife for making me a Grandma -- at 36. Ouch.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I'm a great aunt too, thanks to Donn's sister, who had kids as a teenager, and her kids, who continued the trend. Sigh. On the other hand I have my brother, who was nearly 40 before he had kids. Of course I'm 10 years younger than him, so our kids are close to the same age. Aren't families weird?

    ReplyDelete
  16. Me too. A great-aunt by marriage and on my own side. Of course, my niece was barely past her 18th birthday when she got married and, as it turned out, was already pregnant.

    And haven't I heard lots of tales about women who thought the baby factory was closed down and then BAM! Just sayin'...

    ReplyDelete
  17. Of course, if you wait long enough, the burp cloths COULD be for you...but congrats on the new title! You'll be Great at it, no doubt!

    ReplyDelete
  18. You could be a great aunt at the age of 30, you don't have to be old. You can just feel GREAT!
    Lindsey

    ReplyDelete