My Great Aunt Celia wore the reddest lipstick, I had ever seen any woman place upon her lips. It was the brightest shiniest gloss and when she kiss you, it was as if you suddenly broke out in a rash as the with each and every kiss, a silhouette of her butterfly upper and lower lip appeared on your face. For the great nephews, the ones she really ogled over, as she pinched our cheeks together calling us such handsome puunum (face), we would then appear as if we all were auditioning for a clown show. My Great Aunt Celia, wore the tightest of corsets (albeit at the time I just thought she had no waist) having inherited the Iancowitz (my grandmothers maiden name) the top part of my Aunt Celia’s body was very bubbly (that was her word for the size of her breasts). Aunt Celia was the life of the party and everyone knew immediately when she entered the room. I still remember her as a grand lady.
There were times, however when, if you got her on a one to one, she also was more then just the facade; she in fact was very philosophical about her life and new exactly how she appeared. After one or two Peach Schnapps sitting at a family function she on a very cushy chair and me on the one kitchen chair with the legs non quite even so finding the balance to stop rocking, she would recite a few stories. Sometimes she would refer to my Grandmother, her sister and say, “Eva,(My Grandmother), was the quiet one, she followed the orders of our Mama and Papa, but not blindly, no she always had a plan as to how those inspections in life might help her change her life. Your Grandmother was smart enough to play dumb, never bucking the system as they say in America, but adjusting the situation to meet her goals. “I on the other hand , was loud, complained, begrudgingly did what I was told, knowing that one day I would rebel.” I was loud, your Grandmother was soft, My marriage was arranged, your Grandmother placed her foot down and said i will marry the man I love. Then with a sweet smell of the Peach Schnapps still floating from my Aunt Celia’s mouth, her red lipstick still fire engine red, but a little less precisely lying upon her lips she would lean in grab my cheeks pull me close to her and right before the big fat kiss on my lips say, be brave, be smart, and quietly never give in.’
Another day in Trump Land, another day I awake and wonder, whose freedoms will be denied, whose lives will be shattered, which Republican has joined the Putin puppet list and how can so many Americans NOT want a revolution. In honor of my Great Aunt Celia, I will persevere, and when I and all the good Americans kiss this Trump dictatorship goodbye, I will think of you!
