Thursday, February 2, 2012

Betrayed

I've told y'all before that I'm the greatest aunt who ever lived but I think it bears repeating.  Mainly because I like repeating it.

ANYWAY . . . as soon as my nieces and nephew could each talk, I employed my knowledge about Pavlovian techniques and taught them to say that I was their favorite aunt.  I'd ask them "Who's your favorite aunt?" and they'd yell "CATCHY!!!!"  They would say it so enthusiastically and without any hesitation that my sisters soon realized that they could never compete for that title and conceded it to me.  So today I am still the reigning and undisputed Favorite Aunt in my family.

That's what made tonight so painful.

My 11-year-old niece Emma called me on video chat from her iPod tonight and we talked about what she did today, what she'd be doing tomorrow, and what her high score is in Temple Run (451,024 for those of you who are familiar with the game . . .).  You know - the kinds of things that nieces and favorite aunts talk about.  That's when the conversation went terribly and horribly awry:

Emma: Catchy, guess what?
Me: What?
Emma: I've been really funny lately with my friends.
Me: I bet you have!
Emma: Yeah - I've been really funny.  You know - like Auntie Erin.
Me: [choking on my water] Wait - WHAT did you just say?
Emma: I've been funny like Auntie Erin.
Me: Wait a second!  Why does SHE get to be the funny one??
Emma: [silence]
Me: [jaw dropped dramatically] IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII'm funny, tooooooooooooooo!!
Emma: [nervous giggling]
Me: What a rip off.

I feel so betrayed!!

Then later, I made the mistake of telling Erin what Emma had said and she rubbed it in as many times as she could during our conversation.  Like so . . .

Me: Oh, did you hear that Melissa McCarthy got an Oscar nomination for Bridesmaids??
Erin: Yeah!  Good for her.
Me: Right? I think it's awesome! But I'm so surprised that she got an OSCAR nomination for that movie.
Erin: Well, but I think those really funny roles are hard to do so it's about time that people are getting recognized for them.
Me: I know.  She WAS hilarious.  But an Oscar nomination??
Erin: Well, you just don't understand that level of comedy.  Emma and I do, though . . .
Me: Shut up.

So clearly I need to start working on my reputation as a funny aunt.

Right after I get this knife out of my unfunny back . . .

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm nervous to even leave a comment, for fear of upstaging you....