I remember when I told my aunt she was going to be a Great Aunt. She had actually known for quite a while, but the penny hadn’t quite dropped that she was going to *be* a Great Aunt. By this I don’t mean an aunt who is really great, that goes totally without saying… I mean a Great-Aunt, as in “like a grandmother but slightly sideways on the family tree”. 

We were on the phone when I informed her of this fact. There was a silence, a quick denial, and then another silence as it sunk in. She was only 52 at the time. But she soon got over it, and quickly slipped into the Great Aunt role like you would slip on a slinky new dress. 

Well, tonight The Daddy informed me that I am going to be a Great Aunt.  And it played out in exactly the same way. I have known all day that Eldest Nephew and his wife were expecting, and it was hardly a big surprise, but it hadn’t crossed my mind to think about exactly what my relationship would be to their child. 

And I have to say that I am still in shock. When I married the late-in-life “bonus child” of a large extended family I knew I was being incorporated into a family tree packed with nieces and nephews almost as old as I am. But no one, ever, had the decency to take me aside and explain what that could mean. That I would be a Great Aunt at 36. 

Can I reject the label?  What do you think?

I would settle for just being a great auntie.