Girls, I Am Telling You, The Fighting Nun Looks Just Like My Aunt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                 I cannot remember, darlings, exactly when The Fighting Nun Puppet first appeared on the scene, but I can distinctly recall a collective reaction.  Every single member of my immediate family, upon looking at it, had the same thing to say!

                                                  "Oh, my God!  It looks like Katty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

                                                  Katty, short for Kathleen, was my unmarried aunt, who lived with, and took care of, my paternal grandparents.  The woman was a SAINT, and many of us thought she should have become a nun, and I always wondered why she did not.  But then there were my grandparents, whom she chose to look after, while living a secular existence.

                                                    Not that Aunt Katty was pugnacious.  Not in the least!  But, when we all saw that puppet's face, we instantly recognized Katty.  You would swear the designer had modeled it after her!!!!!!!!!!!!  Wish I could prove that, because then I would be in for a share of the profits!!!!!!!!!

                                                     Now, you remember our famous housewarming, the day Sandy hit????????  Stephen, one of my dearest friends, whom I had not seen in ages, gave me, as a gift, the Fighting Nun!!!!!!!!  Now, she proudly sits on one of my bookshelves!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                       Aunt Katty was not only my aunt, she was my godmother, carrying me to St. Paul's Church, in Highland Park, to be baptized, on what she later described was a very windy day!!!!!!!    She had a wonderful sense of humor, and would help anyone.  I have memories of her buying me Dairy Queen milk shakes, (my favorite, back then!!!!!!!) sometimes to my parents' consternation.

                                                        At least one Saturday night a month, Katty went out with a group of women she called "the Girls"--Katherine Walsh, Ann Van Doren, and Annmarie Harding, who was  related to one of the Monsignors in North Brunswick.  She would tell me where they went, what they had, and how good it was.  Also, unlike yours truly, Katty was of that branch of the family who never gained an ounce!  Guess I got brains over svelteness!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                        These talks fueled my desire for adulthood, where I could be a carefree  career girl, and go to dinner at wonderful restaurants.  The Girls, like Katty, were all unmarried, and lived with either parents or relations.  Which was how it was, back then.

                                                          Katty passed away nine years ago this Summer, at the age of 90!
The end was sad, not only because it was due to Alzheimer's, but because one of our family's mainstays was truly gone.  I missed her then, and still do.

                                                            But, I have those memories, and every time I look at the Fighting Nun, it is like Aunt Katty is right there!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                             I wonder what Sister Camille would think??????????????