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Lightning on the Pillow and Other Life Lessons From My Aunt Olga
When I was six, my Aunt Olga spent the night at our house to babysit. She chased me and my brothers to bed and lay down to sleep on one of the beds in our bunkhouse-like room. But Lightning, our dog, had snuck in and climbed on Olga’s bed and beat her to the pillow. Olga put her head down on the dog and sat up, startled.
Olga yelled at the dog, but Lightning knew a soft-touch and once again beat her to the pillow. Once again Olga yelled at the dog. She tried to chase Lightning away, but lightning kept jumping back onto the bed.
I precociously sat up in my bed and yelled, “Hey Auntie Olga: what’s the big idea? Leave the dog alone. She ain’t hurtin’ anyone. How’s a fella’ supposed to get any sleep around here?”
The Inside Joke
I don’t know from what TV show or movie I heard such phrasing, but the story was repeated for the next forty years whenever we’d visit Olga. It entered the realm of family lore, at least from my perspective, and it was with a sense of pride that I heard it repeated. How clever I was, I guess.
I also enjoyed the loving nostalgia of a family connection. At our gatherings over the ensuing decades, I could say, “Hey Auntie Olga: what’s the big idea?” and get a laugh. A cheap laugh, sure, but an important…
