Fatherhood and Aunt-hood

I decided that one day isn't enough when it comes to Fatherhood, so I think I'll talk about it all week. But today, I'll pay tribute to all the DINKs (double income no kids) of the world.



My sister ("Aunt Elaine" to my kids) is one in a million. She has been happily married for twenty years and has never made a secret of the fact that she doesn't want kids. Most people mistake such an attitude as meaning that the childless person is immune to the instincts of motherhood. On the contrary, my sister has simply chosen a different path. She just prefers kids about the time they can appreciate the things she appreciates--a good meal, a fine museum, some world travel.



Now that my daughters are a little older, Aunt Elaine has started taking them to museums. But my son, not yet four, is still a little on the young side for a grand day out. Although he likes museums, he wants to go with Mama and Papa, and Aunt Elaine doesn't see the point if his parents are along for the ride. She prides herself on offering experiences that a child's parents can't or won't.



Speaking of living on the edge, Father's Day found our extended family around Grandma's and Grandpa's pool, and Zach leaned over a bit too far and fell in. There we no less than five adults nearby, and Zach did a surprisingly good job staying up without his "floaties" but Elaine leapt into action with blinding speed. She has a faster first step than Kobe Bryant, and like Shaquille O'Neal, she will not be denied. She was out of her lounge chair before Zach even hit the water and had scooped him up before he went under. As my daughter Ariel would later say, "Aunt Elaine was very fast. She jumped in as if she didn't care about herself. She cared more about saving Zachary than herself."



Now I'm sure someone else would have rescued Zachary momentarily, but Elaine deserves credit where credit is due. Although every father would take pride in plucking his son from a pool on Father's Day, a true Father is glad to have his son's Aunt do it, if only to save a child from an extra split-second of distress. So here is my public thanks to Zach's Aunt Elaine, the best sister a father could have. She was not only helpful, but she was gracious to a fault (in a family full of people too willing to say "I told you so"), and we all thank her for it.