I have lots of wacky relatives in my life. For instance, my Great - Aunt Donna and my cousin Raven like to go to the funeral parlor parking lot and see who is going in. That way, they can find out the latest news. When I was little, my grandma would always let me tie a piece of rope around her hands and drag her all around the yard while she sang a crazy song. Each member of my family is unique in a special way and I love them all, but I have one very special woman in my family.

She is caring, witty, playful and has lots of good qualities. She is totally interested in your daily life and seems to know the little things that are important to you. She is my Aunt Gail.

Since I was very young, I have had many enjoyable times with my aunt. We have gone to the Seneca Park Zoo, fed the chickadees out of our hands in Mendon Ponds Park, made a few pots of “Wilderness Stew’’, tried to get the raccoon out of the chimney, gone fishing in the pond, experienced “The Spirit of America’’ and many, many, many more.

This year I went fishing in our weedy pond with my aunt. We started out getting worms. Now, for me, this is no problem. I just pick up a large stone, reach my hand in the soft, black dirt and grab a slimy, long brown worm. When this happens, the worm usually breaks in half and squirts its guts all over my hand. When we went to go dig up worms, I had to do all the work. Aunt Gail hates worms! She actually backed up about 10 paces from the wide rock pile. After I had finished, we headed down to the deep end of the pond. There, I thrust my hand into the metal bucket and fished around for the perfect juicy worm. Then, I offered it to my companion. She backed away saying, “You do it! That’s gross!’’ I quickly retrieved the insect, pierced its middle section onto the sharp, new hook and cast it into the water. About a half hour later, I heard a sudden cry of joy as Aunt Gail caught her first sunfish. It was a funny experience, she seems so confident in many things it seem strange she would be so timid with a worm! After she caught a few more fish, I decided we should throw them back. Think how startled I was when Aunt Gail unhooked her own fish!

During the last year, my aunt and uncle have moved from their little red house in Henrietta across the mid-eastern states to Florida for the winter season. I think about her very often and she were here. I want her to know that I think she is a truly outstanding aunt and that she will always be special to me.