Life's little lessons

Everyone that has known me for years knows about the infamous relationships I have with my uncles. For sure they have had a huge influence on the man that I am today. They taught me to drive a 5 speed......through the streets of Portland....... at the age of 10. I learned that if you want to catch striped bass, you may need to go fishing at 2 am. I learned how to make a pipe bomb and what said pipe bomb would do to a 55 gallon metal barrel. But something you may not know about is the equally influential relationships with my aunts.

When I was 5, I was at my grandmother's house on Clark street in Portland. My aunt Tammy came into the kitchen where I was with my mom and grandmother. "I am going to the store" she said. "Where did you get money?" my Grandmother asked. "Does Tuan want to go too?" my aunt asked, totally ignoring her mothers barking interrogation. I vividly remember how the city smelled of melting pavement as we walked the half block to the store. We laughed at the place in the sidewalk where this stream of water that shot out of a crack in the concrete that more encouraged the bricks to stay in place than hold them there. "Look the sidewalk is peeing." she told me. I can remember looking at all of the penny candy wishing I had some money too. She asked what I would buy if I had money. I pointed to the Bazooka Joe grape gum. "Is that your favorite?" she asked. Oh and it was. "Who is your favorite aunt?......well if I buy you some of that will I be your favorite aunt?" "Yes" I said. "Are you sure it is your favorite?" Yup I was absolutely sure. She bought me 5 pieces of gum because I was 5. The store owner gave us ice cream sandwiches because it was so hot out. We went out and ate the sandwiches. Tammy gave me the 5 pieces of gum and said "I will always remember that this is your favorite gum if you always remember that I am your favorite aunt."

For years, whenever we went to visit her, she would pull me aside when no one else was looking and give me a piece of Bazooka Joe. But I couldn't tell anyone because it was the only one she had. It wasn't till I was 12 or 13 that my brother asked where I got gum. What? Doesn't she do that to each of us? Am I really the only one? Huh. When I was 16 or 17 I was in Portland with a friend. He had to stop at his uncles to drop something off for his mother. Aunt Tammy lived around the corner at the time, so I walked over to say hi. When she answered the door she smiled her big smile and gave me a hug. She asked the usual questions and if I wanted to come in. I let her know that I couldn't stay, just wanted to say hi. "Wait right here, I have something for you" she said. She came back with a single piece of Bazooka Joe. "It's still your favorite right?" Sure it was. We said goodbye in the same old way, and I left. I don't even want to venture a guess as to how long she had been saving that piece of gum for me, but I guess it was never really about how delicious the gum was. I wondered if when she gave hugs goodbye to my brother, sister, and cousins she also whispered to them that they were her favorite? Or was it just me? Just me. JUST ME!!!!

While my uncles may have taught me to play pinball, how to blow stuff up, how the "emergency brake" isn't just for emergencies, and how driving in hurricanes and blizzards is more fun than driving any other time. It was my aunt Tammy that taught me how to feel special. Really special. And how to make someone else feel like seeing them is what just you've been waiting for to make your day perfect.