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.”