It wasn't unexpected news. We had been made aware that she was at hospital a couple of days ago, so the news of her passing was not out of the blue.
Still, it's sad.
As I sit here, with a wall of white to etch some words onto, I cannot help but think back to my early childhood.
A lot of my memories from back then have my aunt, uncle and cousins there with my parents and my nan. We had a very close bond. And when I state 'close' I mean it. My aunt, uncle and cousins lived thirteen or so doors down.
When they moved to other parts of the country, we still visited during school holidays.
My aunt was quite a character. I fear I may do her a disservice with the following lines, but here goes: I haven't seen the movie Auntie Mame - which stars Rosalind Russell. However, I read the book it is based on after winning it in a Penguin competition a few years ago. Whilst reading the stories about the quirky character of Mame and her nephew - Patrick - I couldn't help but not picture my aunt in that role.
I'm genuinely concerned about painting her in a bad light with this post. But, there are so many things springing to my mind right now that are making me think 'I cannot write that because it makes her look silly' but, I kind of think she would get a good laugh out of it.
There was one time when my aunt gave me a birthday card of a space ship flying in space. It looked kind of like an imperial craft from The Empire Strikes Back, but it wasn't. Anyway, instead of writing the card from her, she decided to write it from the Sith Lord himself.
So, on my birthday, I had a card from none other than Darth Vader! How cool, was that? It's a good job I couldn't read at the time, however, because Aunt Jacquie had signed it 'Dark Vader'.
The Star Wars name confusion didn't end there.
A few years later, she had a pair of twin Siamese cats. They were brother and sister. One was called Luke and the other....
If you guessed 'Leia', you'd be wrong. My auntie called Luke's sister Leila!
Remember above when I wrote about spending summers with my aunt and uncle? Well, one year - my sister and I brought our own breakfast cereal with us. Golden Grahams had just launched in the UK and we loved them. My mum bought us a box to take with us.
Anyway, the next day, we were called down for breakfast with the call 'your Horatio Grahams are ready'.
My dad is the same, though. He also has a tendency to do that with names.
Speaking of my dad, I've often brought up the following story in which they both double-teamed me. It makes me laugh nowadays, but it didn't back then.
It was 1992. I remember it because it was the day of the opening ceremony of the Barcelona Olympics. My dad and I travelled over to spend time with them that summer. My aunt was going through her vegetarian days and told me 'you'll like what I have made for your dinner' (or something along those lines).
So, on that evening, three of us were sat at the table (my uncle must have been at work because I do not recall him at the table - trust me, I remember this as if it were yesterday). She put the plate down and I see a curry with prawns.
Back then, I disliked curries. I like mild ones nowadays, but - back in 1992 - I wouldn't touch them. As for prawns - well, they're still on my 'NO WAY, JOSE' list.
'I don't like curry or prawns, so I don't think I'll like this,' I expressed.
'You'll like it,' my aunt assured me.
'Dad, I won't like this, will I?'
As the good little brother, my dad told me to try it for his sister.
To cut a long story short, I was right. That was the last time I ever ate a prawn. Or prawns, considering I must have had at least three spoonfuls before tapping out.
The very last time I saw my aunt was a year or so before the pandemic. She came here to visit after a trip to the city centre.
She loved Game of Thrones and, by sheer coincidence, happened to be the shopping centre when Sky Atlantic was doing a promotion for the series. They had the iron throne there for people to sit on and have their photo taken.
My aunt, in her mobility scooter, had the chutzpah to have her photo taken near the throne without queuing up. Her shenanigans led the organisers to take pity and let her have a photograph closer to the prop.
That was my aunt. A character you could find in fiction, but also living in the real world.
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