Tea Sets and a Teta
Posted on: February 6, 2025
- In: Uncategorized
- 3 Comments
Five-year-old Marti Anne was a pretty savvy kid who had a fairly accurate BS detector even as a preschooler.
I had a whole slew of great 20-something aunts and uncles. I was one of the first of my generation (or, at least that lived locally) so I was like the family pet or plaything. In other words, I got LOTS of attention. One of my favorite aunts was the one I was named after – Aunt Mart. Or “Teta” Mart, if we want to be ethnically accurate.
During a 1959 December adventures, she let me peruse the toy section of The Hub, Steubenville’s flagship department store while she shopped nearby. After checking out all things Barbie, I joined her at the cash register and noticed the clerk wrapping a gorgeous “real china” child’s tea set, patterned after the fancy Blue Willow design. Oh my goodness.
“Aunt Mart, are you buying that?”
She hesitates. “Um, yeah. For some girl. I know her parents.”
I was stunned. How could she buy that for someone else? And who was this girl? I was hit with a wave of yuck that I later identified as jealousy. Oh, what I wouldn’t give to have a tea set like that? And more importantly, who was this … GIRL … who holds such a spot in MY AUNT’s heart? Finally the transaction was completed.
“Okay babe, let’s go to the Mezzanine for lunch. I’ll get you a chicken salad sandwich.”
Betrayal temporarily forgotten, I focused on the prospect of a chicken salad sandwich, a classy and rather exotic option in my young world.
If you remember, I said my childhood BS detector was FAIRLY accurate. Not perfect. So when I opened my Christmas presents a couple weeks before my sixth birthday, I was shocked, surprised and happily overwhelmed to learn that OTHER GIRL was in fact, me.
Last month I turned 71, and have tried to stay close over the years. And when my now 31 year old son decided at a similar age during visits to Ohio that she, in fact, was HIS favorite aunt, I was delighted.
Yesterday my Teta Mart passed away at 93. Thank you for being there my whole life. And especially, thank you for my surprise tea set. It forever set the tone of “us.”
3 Responses to "Tea Sets and a Teta"
February 6, 2025 at 5:34 pm
Marti,
I’m sorry to hear that Teta Mart has left this plane of existence, I hope she continues to bring joy to others fortunate enough to be in her presence.
I can see the family resemblance.
Vince
May 23, 2026 at 3:51 pm
Oh, the passing of friends and relatives. As we pass into the world of being a living antiquity, death begins to surround us. It was wonderful to have your aunt in your life for so long.
Now, more than a decade gone, was my Aunt Sue, who I grew up to learn that she was just about the funnest and funniest Aunt in the world. My most favorite aunt, though, had to be my Aunt Debby. We had grown up together, and I used to joke that we used to take baths together. Well, at the time she had been six and I was five., She has been gone for a few years as well, and I dearly miss them both.
I’m going to see if a poem I had accidently run across in my writings will fit here:
————————–
THE DASH
the poem by Linda Ellis
I read of a man who stood to speak,
At the funeral of a friend.
He referred to the dates on the tombstone,
From the beginning… to the end.
He noted that first came the date of birth,
And spoke of the following date with tears,
But he said what mattered most of all,
Was the dash between those years.
For that dash represents,
All the time they spent alive on earth,
And now only those who loved them,
Know what that little line is worth.
For it matters not, how much we own,
The cars… the house… the cash.
What matters is how we live and love,
And how we spend our dash.
So think about this long and hard;
Are there things you’d like to change?
For you never know how much time is left,
That still can be rearranged.
To be less quick to anger,
And show appreciation more,
And love the people in our lives,
Like we’ve never loved before.
If we treat each other with respect,
And more often wear a smile…
Remembering that this special dash,
Might only last a little while.
So when your eulogy is being read,
With your life’s actions to rehash,
Would you be proud of the things they say,
About how you lived your dash?
© 1996-2020 Southwestern Inspire Kindness, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
We invite you to share the poem as long as you include our copyright disclosure: By Linda Ellis, Copyright © Inspire Kindness, 1996, thedashpoem.com. You may not make copies of the poem, in part or whole, in physical or digital form and distribute them without our written approval.
Is There Life After Retirement? 
February 6, 2025 at 4:22 pm
Oh no, I’m so sorry. She was my favorite Marti aunt too, probably because she was there the most. I know how much she meant to you. Hugs.