Let Me Tell You About My Aunt, Chinelo

Although I have always known this, I am now more mature and able to appreciate it more: I have great people in my life. No, really, I am blessed. One of my blessings is my Aunt, Chinelo. Aunt Chinelo has been my favorite aunt since I was a toddler.

I still remember when she was in college (University of Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria), and I used to be her pet. She would take me to go visit her friend, Aunt Nkem who lived close to us, and Aunt Nkem would walk us back home, and we’d walk Aunt Nkem back again. I wonder if they even remember that. Well, I was little, but I remember that. I also remember that Aunt Nkem used to give me cornflakes in her hostel.

Back to Aunt Chinelo: she’s my mommy’s youngest sister (and of course, my grandma’s youngest daughter).  Everyone who knows me well knows about Aunt Chinelo, so it’s only right that you get to know and love her too.  But you cannot have her. Go get your own Aunt Chinelo.

Here are a few random, funny, and entertaining facts about Aunt Chinelo:

1.  She likes to put everything in the freezer, including rice.  It’s the weirdest thing because rice does not do well after being put in the freezer. By the time she brings it out, it’s all soggy and she still eats it while I watch in total awe.

2.  She’s extremely soft-spoken. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who speaks so softly. Even when she’s yelling, you can barely hear her. The last time Funmie heard her yelling at her son, Toby, neither Funmie nor I could hear what she was saying, and we were all in the kitchen.

3.  She chews gum to stay awake while reading or documenting work stuff. But in the almost-eighteen years I have been in America, I have never actually witnessed this gum helping her stay awake. Also, she always promises to stop chewing gum because it hurts her teeth, but she’s also yet to stop that.

4.  She has a heart of gold.  I don’t know how she does it, but I have never met anyone who is kinder than she is. 

5.  She and my mom are like day and night.  Although they are sisters from the same mommy and daddy, they are so different. When my mommy threw a surprise birthday party from my grandma years ago, one of the guests came to my mom and said, “Wow! Chinelo must really like you because she never goes to any events.” My mom and Aunt Chinelo are so different that if you did not know them, you’d never guess that they are related. When mom told the guest that Aunt Chinelo was actually her sister, she responded, “Ehn? The same blood? Same mother, same father?” That’s a running joke in my house. They are that different.  And even when mom said, “Yes.” she asked, “Idi sure?” [Are you sure?]

6.  She eats pears with anything. Bread. Salad. Rice. And even pancakes. Again, I watch on in awe.

7.  She gave birth to my Toby on my birthday. I’ve talked about Toby a few times, but I don’t remember if I have mentioned that we share the same birthday. It’s a miraculous story actually. He was due to be born in April, but he came on January 14th instead.  He was 2.2 pounds (0.99 kg) and had to stay in the hospital for several months. Today, he’s 16 and almost six feet tall. Look at God!

8.  Aunt Chinelo won’t drive on the highway.  There’s something about Aunt Chinelo and the highway; she just won’t drive on the highway. I remember when I was pregnant and almost due and Aunt Chinelo’s friend flew in from Nigeria. Aunty had to come pick me up in her car and then I drove the car to the airport to pick her friend. The same thing happened when she was leaving for Nigeria.

9.  Aunt Chinelo is a prayer warrior. She can pray for Africa. And while on the subject of being a prayer warrior, she also screams “Blood of Jesus!” for almost anything. Anything at all. Her son, Toby, has mastered how to imitate her, and it’s glorious!

10.  She is responsible for me being in America. Truth.  If it wasn’t for her and her wonderful late husband, Uncle George, I wouldn’t be here today. I’ll tell you the full story someday.

11.She is also partly responsible for my education. When my mommy fell on hard times and couldn’t afford my school fees (in college), my aunt was right there to help. THANK YOU, AUNTY.

12.  She always encourages my walk with Christ.  I don’t remember the exact age I first gave my life to Christ, but I have backslidden many, many times. Aunt Chinelo always encourages me to retrace my steps.

13.  No matter what is going on in my life, Aunt Chinelo always has a scripture to remind me that my problem is not bigger than my God. Most recently, she reminded me of Isaiah 43:18-19 [NLT] “But forget all that — it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it. I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the wasteland.”  There are no words to tell you how much I love these verses or how much they has touched me.       

14.  Although she’s not a writer, she has quite an imaginative mind. For example, Toby recently won a game console from a giveaway on Twitter. When it was time for him to claim the gift, aunty was curious about the gift-giver, so she read his Twitter profile, which said he was a former marine. Aunty freaked out. She said he had a gun and was possibly suffering from PTSD and would come to her house guns blazing.

15. Her laughter is infectious. Aunt Chinelo has a way of laughing that just challenges and overpowers the entire room, and even when you don’t know why she’s laughing, you cannot help but join her in laughing.

16.  She’s an undercover comedian. It’s been years since I last cooked in Aunt Chinelo’s house, but several weeks ago, I cooked a pot of stew, and Aunt Chinelo’s funny bone came out to play. She locked herself in her bedroom while I was cooking, and when I asked her why, she said it was because of the pepper I was cooking. I was not cooking pepper, I was cooking stew. On the same day, she consoled my other aunt and told her not to worry if they were unable to eat my pepper because they could just slice tomatoes and eat it with white rice. Honestly, the stew was not half as peppery as she made it seem.

17.  She’s Ada Verastic’s chief spoiler. And the thing is, Ada Verastic knows that she has Aunt Chinelo wrapped around her little finger. Not only does Aunt Chinelo not drive on the highway, but she also prefers not to drive at night. However, on one very cold winter night, Ada Verastic was watching her tablet and someone (or something) in there was having ice cream, so Ada Verastic decided that she, too, wanted ice cream. So Aunt Chinelo drove out that night, and it was almost midnight and seven degrees outside. She even took Ada Verastic with her because Ada Verastic just HAD to follow Aunty.

18.  Her Instagram game is questionable. Every time she sees something nice on Instagram, she sends it to me and her friends as a message (instead of reposting it and/or liking it). Once, she sent an inspirational message to me and some of her friends, and before I knew it, she and one friend were discussing something personal. I had to call her to let her know that we could all see their messages oh!

So that’s it for Aunt Chinelo (for now). When she reads this post, she’s going to call me and say, “You and your people! You are discussing me on the internet.” But of course, I am, aunty 😀  

Aunt Chinelo’s birthday was on Saturday, and I was so happy to spend the day with her  Happy birthday, aunty. You are so precious to me.

P.S. It was through Aunt Chinelo that I discovered you can go from Baltimore to Washington D.C. without going on the highway. It’ll take you double the time, but where there’s a will, there’s a way. When she needed to be in D.C. and there was no one to help her, she made it there anyway.

P.P.S. Usually, when Aunt Chinelo has to go somewhere that requires her to go on the highway, someone has to take her (her husband, me, or a friend).