There is about 8-12 years difference between me and my older sisters. When they were getting married (they got married really young), I was still in grade school.
We welcomed our first grandchild into the family when I was just 11-years-old. As she was growing up, it felt like she was more of a baby sister rather than my niece. At some point, we were even really close friends. She always admired me, loved my clothes, and begged me to take her shopping.
Then, I got married and had my baby, which apparently, made me seem really old to her. I was not just Noora any more, I was her aunt who just had a baby.
For the first time in my life, someone used the “in your age” phrase with me. In her words: “in your age, it’s normal that you feel tired and don’t like to go out as much.” I wanted to scream! Keep in mind that this was in the middle of winter, when my baby was just a few weeks old, and when I learned that his unexplainable constant crying had a name: colic.
I never understood some people’s obsession with age. However, I have to admit that getting the “in your age” sympathy talk from a teenager really pushed me in the other direction. More and more, I am being referred to as Aunty or Madam, my nieces and nephews are becoming more formal with me, and pretty soon, I will hear the words mama.
While this may sound shallow, I miss being cool in her eyes. Why won't she borrow any of my clothes any more?!
2 comments:
Well, Nora, this is how it goes. Better to accept the new situation, It might change when your niece get married and have her first baby or it might not change and simply each of you will shift to a new form of situation.
I guess so :)
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