"Hesses Madhouse," I have heard, is what the Warden's dad called their home when the Warden was a kid. I, personally, have only heard it called that by the Warden. He used to answer our phone with those words as a greeting. It just stuck from there. If you have spent any time here, at our home, you'd realize quickly that that's exactly what it is, a madhouse, and we all like it that way.
If you were to call our house, and the Warden were to answer with, "Hesses Madhouse," and if you were to ask for me, he would say, "Yes, the Chief Inmate is here. I'll get her for you."
The madness doesn't really end with that....A few years ago, at the tail end of our family reunion (my side of the family), we were leaving the last event of the weekend, and as one of my great-nieces got into her car, she yelled, "See you later, Crazy Aunt Julie!" This caught me a little off-guard. I'm sure, as I have analyzed this, that the reason for the moniker is that this same little girl has an Aunt Julie as well, and they needed a way to set me apart from her. The other Julie is calm and mellow. In comparison, I am not. I'm the one that's not afraid to take a risk, and I'm the one that grew up with four brothers thus tending to look at the world through very different eyes.
At first, I was sad about this nickname. I wondered how long I'd been "Crazy Aunt Julie," but then I realized what a great name this was to have. I can get away with things few others can; it's almost expected that I do the unexpected. It's an unwritten license to step outside the box. Yay for being "Crazy Aunt Julie," and yay for living in the Madhouse! The madness just makes life worth living.
6 comments:
There's nothing at all wrong with being the crazy aunt of the family. Wear the badge with pride :)
It's a lot more fun if people expect you to be random and interesting anyway.
Well, at least if you're the crazy aunt in terms of "zany, silly, and unafraid to break out of the mold," rather than "watch out, she'll go for your eyes" crazy.
I can't really seriously believe anyone would be afraid of your crazy, unless it crosses some kind of cultural gap. My sister thinks I'm horribly crazy because I'm not politically to the right of Rush, and won't discuss that topic with me (which is probably good anyway). Rolls her eyes at my Monty Python quotes which spew so readily from my tongue... I'm the crazy uncle in lots of ways. But they're always happy to get together and enjoy each other's company despite our mutual craziness.
"Crazy Aunt" can quite easily be an affectionate title. I doubt it would be spoken if it were not.
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