Aunt Sister

Aunt Sister

She resembled a penguin in her back and white habit, but she wasn’t one. Her voice lilted with a very slight brogue from her parents’ homeland. She was my Aunt Sister—Sister Joseph Catherine to be exact. My dad’s big sister. Her entry into the convent just out of eighth grade was expected of the eldest daughter from an Irish Catholic home in those days, and my Aunt Sister heeded the call. Her hair was shorn; in fact, I had never seen her hair. I think she had some. Nuns really never took vacations; they were lucky to spend time with family. Most people thought they were born as nuns. The kids who went to St. Benedict’s with me thought schools came with nuns. Build school, sprinkle holy water, nuns appear.

Yes, Aunt Sister was a nun from the old school of nuns, but that didn’t stop her from having a great time. I knew a different side of this ‘penguin.’ A secret side.

The cars were crammed full of people and possessions on that trip to Florida in 1966—all 10 of us, including Aunt Sister. How uncomfortable she must have been in that penguin outfit what with the black wool dress and veil and starched white collar and wimple, but Aunt Sister didn’t complain; she waited for her chance to be free. Her sights were set on the beach—the water, the sand, the shells.

I traveled to Florida before with my family and strolled the beach many times, but this was Aunt Sister’s first venture to this new world. She had traded that hot, hot suit for a pair of long black shorts and a long-sleeved white blouse adorned with her silver cross. I didn’t see this as a major difference, but Aunt Sister relished it. Her eyes lit up at her first glimpse of the Gulf of Mexico, and I hate to admit, her feet were much faster than mine as she dashed to the shoreline and scooped up some wet sand. Granules slid through her fingers and floated back to the ground, but something remained.

“Patty, come here. What kind of shell is this? Ooh, there’s a creature in here! A snail, do you think? Would your dad let us take this back to the room? I could slip it into my suitcase before we leave. Have you ever seen anything like this before? Do you think we can find more?”

Question after question, comment after comment, smile after smile. The joy was there.

Aunt Sister only made that one trip to Florida with us, but her joy in seeing the beauty of God’s creation stayed in her heart and mine for a lifetime.