Tante T

I've mentioned before (here) how much I adore my nephew. He is such an amazing little human and I get more amazed with him each day as he grows.

Tonight, we were sitting at dinner and out of nowhere he says, "Tante, I tan tome to your house tonight?"

I should pause here to explain why he calls me what he calls me. When he was very small, he had a hard time saying Katie, so he would just shorten it to "T". After he got that down, it became "Aunt T", and now "Tante T". Tante is the German word for Aunt. In our family, our German heritage is very, very important. My sister, cousins, and aunts and uncles grew up calling their grandparents "Oma" and "Opa" - the German translation for grandma and grandpa. When I was little, not only did I have an Oma (my Opa died before I was born), but I had a "second Oma" - we lovingly referred to her as Tante Elsie, or just plain Tante.

She was the sweetest woman with such a dry sense of humor and the most loving and warm smile you could ever see. Her home was a warm and inviting place that always smelled of delicious foods and whatever fresh-cut flowers she might have in a beautiful crystal vase on her end table. I remember her as a woman who was never-tiring and always on-the-go...baking, wrapping, cooking, or tidying up her remarkably spotless home. However busy she was though, I always felt like the most important part of her day. No matter what she was doing, she would stop the moment I walked in the door, put whatever she was busy doing down and sit to ask "how are things going sweetie?" And not one single time that I left her house did she let me leave without a big hug, a kiss, and a "come back and visit me again soon". And that, I did.

So, Sam now calls me "Tante T" or sometimes, if he's in a hurry - just plain "Tante". And each and every single time, I say a little prayer that I can fill such big shoes.

"Tante, I tan tome to your house tonight?", I sent up my little prayer, put down my fork and said, "I would love nothing more than for you to come to my house tonight, Sam." Exactly what my Tante would have said, I hope.