Aunts are very special people, and have influence well beyond their nieces and nephews.
My aunt, Rachel, was my early on, periodic baby-sitter, piano teacher,
and then my wise pen-pal for more than 50 years.
As a teenager, she escaped her small Tennessee hometown and it's racial environs.
She never went back. She studied piano in Boston, and taught music in New York City.
Just a couple of weeks ago, this 94 yr old lady was honored by
relatives and friends who gathering from around the US, and Indonesia.
My twig of this family tree was represented there by my daughter, Rachel, and her teen-age daughter.
It was the first time these two namesakes had met in person, but each knew each other very well.
I'm convinced my appreciation for ballet, classical music, my path through college and graduate school,
and my (somewhat
) liberal attitudes towards people and politics, are in large part her doing.