CATWOMAN, aka Aunt MAE

Aunt Mae, my father's sister, was a "catwoman." Unfortunately, she was not at all that other kind of Catwoman like Halle Berry seen in the photo above. She was one of those people who lived alone and had lots of cats and then one day passersby smell something funny and they call the police and they break in and find that the owner had died a long time ago and was sitting mummified in a rocking chair like Tony Curtis' mother in Psycho and all the cats were roaming all over the house.

This did not actually happen to my aunt, she died years ago in a civilized way but I will never forget her, particularly around Christmas. While my parents and all my relatives would go to the store and buy me a Christmas present like a shirt or whatever, my Aunt Mae would go a whole 'nother road less traveled. Her husband was a Merchant Marine sea captain who spent years in the orient. In fact I only met him once in my life and I think my Aunt didn't spend much more time with him... he had the wanderlust, accent on the lust. Instead of coming home he would send gifts all year from the various places he would stop.

Every year, about the middle of December, my Aunt Mae would get a big box and make more room for the cats by putting many of those things into the box and wrapping it. That would be my favorite present. It would have anything in there from a Samurai sword to a gold watch in need of taking apart. Maybe this year, some of my relatives, instead of giving me another Barbra Streisand or Josh Groban CD would just walk around their house and put a bunch of crap they don't want into a big box, wrap it and give it to me for Christmas. One man's crap is another man' treasure. Merry Christmas, Aunt Mae, wherever you are.