Auntie Smitty & Uncle Mamie ~

Family Tier.....  My father was an only child.  My mother had one sister, but Linda had down syndrome so my brother and I never had any true aunts or uncle.  We had a plethora of great aunts and great uncles (and trust me, we truly believed they were GREAT!).  We also had a rather large quantity of cousins who we called "aunt & uncle" simply because in the South you do NOT call adults by their first name when you're a youngun.  Expecially when most of those "aunt & uncle" were even significantly older than my parents.  And then there are the very, very, close friends of your parents.  You know the ones your parents chose for you to call "aunt & uncle".  They are "family by choice" rather than blood.

That would be the category that Mamie and Smitty would fall into.  My dad and Smitty worked together for years and years at Great Lakes Steel.  It was a wonderful friendship because their respective wives also got along as well as the guys.  Mamie and Smitty and Mickee and Gloria were like peanut butter to jelly.  I can't remember a time when they weren't my Uncle Smitty and Auntie Mamie.  However, for whatever strange and bizarre reason, I ALWAYS swapped up and called them Uncle Mamie and Auntie Smitty.  They got to a point where they just accepted it.  They also had two kiddos, Geno and Sandy.  Yep, cousins without the same blood.  (By the way, they still have them......)

Uncle Smitty was a decompartmentalized, metrosexual man way ahead of his time.  If you went by appearance alone, you might think him to be rather intimating and gruff.  He was a strong, bear of a man with a barrel chest and a military edged flat top.  But his sparkling eyes and deep, infectious laugh that bubbled from deep within and erupted out like a volcano.  He was a hard core,  steel mill working, man's man, who unbeknownst to only the closest of the close had a secret addiction to day time soap operas.  You didn't bother Uncle Smitty when his "show" was on.

Auntie Mamie is Auntie Mamie.  She has the sweetest voice.  She's the exact same size today as she was seventy plus years ago.  I swear she found the fountain of youth and hasn't shared with anyone.  She was one of those special adults who could get on to you, make you do the right thing without you ever realizing it even happened.  She has one of the biggest hearts EVER.  (**Disclaimer, if I mix up a tidbit of fact here, it's only in the slightest detail as I was quite young when this part of her story occurred.)  She met an extremely distraught young woman pushing a stroller one day.  The woman was visibly upset.  Auntie Mamie had her come in and sit down and talk with her.  The woman said she couldn't take care of her baby girl.  The infant had special needs and the woman had her own demons she was trying to deal with.  Auntie Mamie told her that she would take the baby in and mother her until the woman was ready to step back in.  And that is EXACTLY what Auntie Mamie DID for a couple of years.  

Growing up, our two families would vacation together.  During the cold weather season, January was usually the month of choice to depart the frigid temperatures of Michigan. We'd pack up our two travel trailers, load up the cars, turn on the CB radio, and start the trek from Michigan to Florida.  During warmer months, we'd head to Canada.  Those trips were some of the best memories that stand out from my youth.  This was definitely PRE-electronic games.  There was one specific trip to Florida where we discovered the fun and pleasure of "butt holes". 

We would dig a hole large enough for our behinds to fit in.  This gave the illusion that our legs were coming out from our chest.  We looked like we were two and a half to three feet tall sitting in those holes.  (Yep, we didn't need much but a shovel and great imaginations.)  We dug "butt holes" all around our two camp sites.  It was all fun and games until the next morning when my father came walking out of the trailer, with his first morning cup of coffee and stepped down off the trailer step and straight into a butt hole dug by Geno.  The entire KOA Kampground heard my dad bellowing GEEEEEENNNNNOOOOOOO echoing through the quiet morning air.  Needless to say, boundaries were set for all future butt hole digs.  

Just like Superman had kryptonite, my strong, manly man, Uncle Smitty had bridges.  Yep, bridges.  Never knew about it or realized it was a thing, until we had to cross the longest bridge in the state of Florida.  I remember I was riding in the vehicle with them at the time.  Before we began, Auntie Mamie warned Sandy and I, but me specifically (hmmm, anyone surprised that she was afraid I couldn't keep my mouth shut?) that we had to be very, very, quiet.  As in don't talk, whisper, or murmur until we were on the other end of the bridge.  If I didn't know better, I'd say that their dog was even holding his breath.  To quote a southern phrase "you could have heard a gnat fart".  That was the day I learned that "white knuckles" is a real thing.  Uncle Smitty had such a hold on the steering wheel, that he truly had white knuckles.  

Uncle Smitty took the lead and drove smack down the middle of that two lane bridge, all three miles of it.  To my dad's dying day he swore that Uncle Smitty had an angel with him that day.  The odds there wasn't an oncoming vehicle the entire length of that bridge was incomprehensible.  Afterwards, my dad asked Uncle Smitty what would have happened should an 18-wheeler come across the bridge from the other direction.  Uncle Smitty looked him straight in the eye and without a bit of humor said, "he'd better been good at backing that rig up because I wasn't going anywhere".

Fast forward to 1988.  My hubby and I were getting married at my church home in Decatur, Alabama even though we both were living in Mission, KS at the time.  My mom was very instrumental in planning my wedding.  I know she truly enjoyed herself.  When she got married, it was at the courthouse.  One area I didn't fight her on (which I probably should have) was the guest list.  We both had given her the lists of guest we wanted included.  Our parents and my grandparents also indicated the individuals they wanted to be included at our nuptials. My mom was not only the manager of the list, but she was also the keeper of the RSVP's.  Whenever I would ask who had responded, she would laugh and say, "It's a surprise, you'll see at the wedding".  

Picture this......  Hubby and his best man and groomsmen are at the front of the church.  My attendants have already walked down the aisle as well.  The church is pleasantly but not uncomfortably filled.  My dad is super nervous.  For a man who never met a stranger and could strike up a conversation with anyone, he didn't like to be singled out with all the attention on him.  So you can imagine his horror, as we're walking down the aisle I'm scanning the pews to see who all came to share in my special day when all of a sudden, I spot Uncle Smitty and Auntie Mamie.  So of course, I do what no other rational bride does.  I stop, hand my father my bouquet, squeeze into the pew and holler "UNCLE SMITTY"!!!!!  Uncle Smitty turns as red as a KC Chiefs uniform and is completely transfixed.  Auntie Mamie finally leans over and whispers rather loudly: "Smitty, Smitty, you better get up and go over to her, otherwise she's not going to walk down the aisle".  So my poor, flustered, beloved Uncle, scooted down the aisle to give me a big bear hug.  All the while I'm streaming tears of joy.  When he's done hugging me, he whispers, "Michelle, you better get going.  John is up there waiting for you", I told him ok that I'd see him later.  My father was still standing there with a look of complete disbelief.  His face was the whitest shade of white, he'd broken out in a cold sweat.  I reached over and took my flowers said, "Okay, I'm ready to continue".

It wasn't until later at the reception when I introduced my hubby to Uncle Smitty and Auntie Mamie that he shared that had Uncle Smitty been ten years younger, we would have had to had a discussion BEFORE the vows were exchanged.  

My poor Uncle Smitty took it all in stride!  Oh how I love those two....  I hope they know what they both mean to me.  It doesn't matter how much time passes, I love that I can call them anytime and without hesitation they recognize my voice and it's as if we had just seen each other earlier in the week.

Everyone needs an Auntie Smitty and Uncle Mamie in their life!!!