Great Aunts will say the darnest things...
Mood:  mischievious
Most of you have heard me mention my Great Aunt Buddie. No her real name isn't Buddie...its Beulah but when you are kid "Beulah" is hard to pronounce so somehow her name became Buddie. She is 96 years old, lives in a retirement village and still drives a car. She has been like a Grandmother to Anne and I since our own grandparents were killed in a car accident while vacationing in Mexico.

Aunt Buddie has alway been a source of amusement for us. She is a habitual shopper on QVC buying items she doesn't really look at but thinks, "oh that would be nice to have." So she buys it, gets it home, then she realizes it has too many buttons on it so she gives it to mom or myself. She tries to be modern and buy high tech gadgets like DVD players and cordless phones but it almost always turns into some sort of ordeal. Mom and I will usually get a phone call asking us to fix it. The bad thing about that is...I live 6 hours away. She expects to tell me the problem over the phone and I fix it for her. I have tried to explain the problem over the phone but it never goes well.

An another amusing thing about her is that she will say WHATEVER is on her mind. Whether it is appropriate or not. Such an incident occurred a few weekends ago and I am going to attempt to tell you what happened. I hope it will translate to blog well...

My mom got a call from my cousin Ethel Lou (yeah I know I giggle when I hear the name too). Ethel Lou and her husband were in Hancock, MD and decided they wanted to stop by and see Aunt B. They tried calling her but she didn't answer. Mom told them that she was probably in church but that she would meet them in Hagerstown and take them over to her place.

When they arrived at Aunt B.'s, mom sat them down in the house and went out to the parking lot to meet Aunt B. Mom didn't want her to walk in to find a bunch of people sitting in her house. Aunt Buddie pulls up and is surprised to see mom.

Aunt Buddie: "What are you doing here?"
Mom: "I have a surprise for you."
Aunt Buddie: "A surprise?"
Mom: "You have some visitors."
Aunt Buddie: "Is it Becky?"
Mom: "No!"
Aunt Buddie: "Is it Anne?"
Mom: "No! Why don't you just come in and see for yourself."

They walk into the house and Aunt Buddie sees these two old people sitting on the couch.

Aunt Buddie: "Is it Hazel and Bob?" (some friends of my mother)
Mom: No! It is Ethel Lou!
Aunt Buddie (In full Volume): "That can't be Ethel Lou...They cremated her!"
Mom: "No! The cremated Kitty" (Ethel Lou's sister).
Aunt Buddie: "No I am pretty sure they cremated Ethel Lou."

Ethel Low, in shock, tried to reassure Aunt Buddie who is still insisting that Ethel Lou had been cremated. After about 10 minutes or so Aunt Buddie finally decided to let it go and except that this was indeed Ethel Lou and not some impostor. She took them all out to lunch and when Ethel Lou decided it was time for her and her husband to head home, Aunt Buddie said she was sorry that she thought they had cremated her.

The bad thing about all this is, except for the fact that they should have called a few days before to let her know they were coming, is the fact that Aunt Buddie just talk to Ethel Lou three weeks prior to the visit. You just never know what Aunt B.'s mind is thinking and what words might come out of her mouth. It definitely makes the evening much more entertaining.

Tonight I start my training at Tir Na Nog. I will let you all know how it goes.