“Oh Beautiful One”
I come from a large family. My mom was the oldest of three sisters and a brother on her side, and between them, they produced 25 first cousins, of whom I’m the oldest. I won’t even get into my dad’s side because Mom left him when I was just 12 years old. We didn’t have much contact at all with his side after that. We did, however, have a lot of contact with my mom’s side of the family.
We were pretty much raised with all my first cousins, even living with them from time to time. Most bought property at a lake where we continued to share our lives lakeside by the water every summer. It was idyllic, and we all loved this lake life. Most of us cousins got married, had kids, and still hung out, partied, swam, waterskied and fished and enjoyed fireside weiner roasts, and such all summer long.
Although we were all cousins, the younger ones took to calling us auntie or uncle. Being the oldest, I wanted to make sure all these younger ones could dereference and know that I was special (being the oldest … : ). So I decided that for them to remember me as being special (lol), I made the younger ones call me “OH beautiful one”. They were quite happy to do so, and I was comforted that they would remember me even when I was gone.
Now, let me say here, I had no illusions about being beautiful, and that was not the point. I wanted to be set apart from so many of us. My youngest sister was the pied piper of every child that came even remotely close to her. She attracted them all and showed them how to fillet fish and take apart the fish guts, and omg… she was amazing, to this day even. There is nothing she couldn’t do to teach and entertain children.
How to compete with that? I particularly enjoyed her children addressing me as “oh beautiful one.” I just did : ) I didn’t have the charisma and talents of my younger sister. When her children grew up and had kids, they still lovingly addressed me every once in a while, as “Oh beautiful one”. It was an endearment, and I think we all got a kick out of it (I could be wrong, but it always brought smiles to all our faces).
To be remembered is important to me. We are only here for a short while. I remember my nana, uncle, and baba, and they left such a great impression on me. It’s how I want to be remembered, I just do. And so that’s how I came up with a way to set myself apart and maybe all these little ones growing up would remember “OH beautiful one,” and it would make them smile.
So these nieces have their own young families now, and we are all sitting around outside at my sister’s house, playing cards, visiting, and laughing. One pipes up and, to get my attention she calls me “Oh beautiful one,” and we all burst out laughing. I got a warm and fuzzy feeling all over, I love my family so much. This ‘monicker’ I invented for myself will live on when I’m no longer here, and I kinda like that.
So, this pop-up blog is just me explaining why my moniker is ‘Oh Beautiful One’… to my family. Trust me when I say I know I’m not beautiful, although I don’t think I’m butt ugly either. I don’t have an amazing painting I’ve done, nor do I have a bestseller book (although I have written one) it’s early yet : ). I’m just me, doing my thing, getting older and trying to stay viable and excited about life.
That’s it in a nutshell, aging to perfection (just a joke, folks) and I’m grateful for my life. This I know for sure, we need humour and laughter in our lives, now more than ever. Without it life would be pretty boring, dontcha think?
To all of you out there, thank you for reading my blog… and how do you want to be remembered?
copyright
June 25th 2026