The crazy aunt... Who is she? Does every family have one? What does she look like?
The crazy aunt is the odd sister or great aunt. Just a tad goofy and maybe laughs a little too much. She's the loud mouth, baby-talking nut who goes into a tirade of ootsie, cutsie, cootchie-cootchie-coo foolishness over the new baby and keeps it up until the baby is well into his or her thirties.
"Look at that adorable, itty bitty face. Aren't you just so cute?" she demands of the new baby.
Then it is here she pokes her husband or boyfriend - who is enduring the first viewing of the infant - in the ribs. "Just look at that eensie, weensie version of (sister's or brother's name)." she demands of the husband or boyfriend who rolls his eyes.
"Awwwww... did you see that? The baby yawned. How adorrrrrrable!"
"Ooodie, woodie, boodie, scootie, bee bee bee...," might be the gibberish dripping through the aunt's pursed lips as she wiggles and curls a finger in the baby's face. Again, the husband or boyfriend rolls his eyes while the crazy gal's sister or brother glows with pride.
Whether every family has one is anybody's guess. Probably not, is mine although I have an inkling they are more common than I could imagine. Or perhaps there's a crazy uncle, grandma or grandpa in the family rather than an aunt.
Pull Quote
"Crazy aunts are no threat
to themselves,
the children
or parents..."
As for her looks, my imagination runs rampant here. Bouffant hair, ruby red lips and blazing blue eye-shadow come to mind but I'm from the fifties and that look is far outdated. Maybe she wears black and pink polka dots or zebra stripes, stiletto heels, has her hair cut short which she keeps in place with $20 hair spray, uses black fingernail polish and lip stick. In appearance, she's the opposite of her sister (or brother) who wears khaki pants or shorts and deck shoes or maybe flip-flops; someone I would pass on the sidewalk with but one glance and certainly not another.
Growing up, I had a crazy great aunt but hers was a sad story; driven to slight madness from tragedy in her life. She wasn't anything like the above description. Far from it, in fact. In Midwestern terms, I'd call her titched which I don't believe to be a word but we use it anyway as we squint an eye and tap our temple. Wink, wink... You know what I mean. Don't get me wrong. I'm not making fun of her, I'm only sayin'...
My best friend of nearly 32 years got a bit silly when around my kids when they were infants. Not much, just a little bit. The normal stuff, if you know what I mean. "Awwws" and "oooos" erupted from her mouth on occasion but she was more prone to helping them commit crimes (breaking household rules, that is) than she was to utter gibberish. Still, had I thought of it I would have given her a T-shirt with writing on it that said, "The Crazy God-mother". She'd have loved it.
But one has to have patience with them. Crazy aunts are no threat to themselves, the children or parents, and the memories the child or children will have of their crazy aunt (uncle, grandmother, or grandfather) will give them something to talk about for the rest of their lives. In fact, you might want to encourage the eccentric behavior just for that very reason because - face it - one day that kid is going to act a little loony once he or she is in their teens. Teen years give rise to the age old question: Are they clinically insane?
