All of my Aunts, Uncles and Cousins are precious and dear to me.

And it is during the month of January that one of my Aunts is celebrating a birthday.

In honor of this occasion please allow me to share one of my favorite memories of her.

It is but one of hundreds…

My Aunts and Uncles were always very kind as they opened their homes to me and made me feel welcome whenever I came to visit.

This of course included my Aunt, Uncle and Cousins who lived in Virginia.

When I was growing up I wanted to be just like my Aunt.

In fact, I still want to be just like her when I grow up.

Further they were kind and indulged our young interests, whatever they might have been.

The first summer that I visited them in 1967, my Aunt treated her three sons and myself to a shopping spree in a brand new store that I had never heard of before…

It was called TOYS R US.

In the weeks that followed I dabbled first hand the art of oil painting by numbers.

After that I learned how to twirl a baton.

The following summer, at the age of nine years old, I was caught up in the art of ventriloquism.

I had picked out a book on ventriloquism and spent a great deal of time trying to figure out it’s mysteries.

One day my Aunt was called away from home for several hours. Before her departure she had prepared our lunches, put them in brown paper bags and left them in the fridge for us with our names written on the bags.

In each lunch we found an individual note she had hand written for us.

I’ll never forget the note she included in my lunch bag.

It read:

“Dear Doris…

You are always welcome to throw your voice whenever you want, but please don’t throw your food.”

Again…

I had the best family in the whole world.

Happy Birthday Dear Aunt…

…Ich Liebe Dich Sehr!!!