When people see you coming, what comes to mind? What feelings does your presence evoke? I don’t know about you, but growing up, there are those adults that I liked being around, and there are those that I saw coming my way and would take off in the opposite direction. For instance, there is an uncle that all of us feared. He never smiled, and even when he greeted you, the greeting was akin to a demand, a challenge that you were meant to fail. And no, he never spanked us, he just had an intimidating presence that instilled fear. And then there was the good-natured, generous uncle who would buy us treats and swing us around until we got dizzy and fell to the ground. We loved it. Ironically, these two men were brothers brought up by the same parents.
Forget uncles, let’s talk about aunties a little bit. I bet that where you come from, your aunts aren’t cut from the same cloth. There is the generous one who cooks up a feast whenever you visit her. She’s like a second mother, and you feel comfortable opening up to her, unburdening the secrets of your heart. Her opposite is the stingy, quarrelsome aunt who is also a notorious gossip who finds joy in the calamity of others and is jealous of the accomplishments of any child that isn’t hers.
