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Cole’s Odd Village includes Cousin Carla. Cole insists on calling her Aunt Carla. She insists she is just his lowly second cousin. He insists she is his Aunt. Cousin… Aunt … Cousin … and so it goes for her entire visit.

One of Carla’s superpowers is movie viewing. Cole tried to find movies she had not seen, but came up on the short end of the movie ticket. Carla also enjoys You Tube videos, The Biggest Losers and Hoarders on TV. She allowed her own boys to blow up fireworks using gasoline or something like that, and last year suggested to Cole he use his Airsoft gun to explode shaving cream.

Cole loves it when Aunt Carla visits.

The irony is that Carla once had a complete meltdown when I ignored her no-jumping-on-the-bed rule and allowed her son a few jumps. Really. Of course, she did tell me up front about the rule. I, on the other hand, never told her I had a rule against shooting cans of shaving cream. What can I say? I am a mother of very few rules.

When Carla left this time, Cole informed me were very different. This made me smile. I love that Cole’s village includes a vast number of different influences. While visiting New Mexico, my mother will do her damndest to make sure he is firmly rooted in the Republican Party. She worries she may have been too politically lenient with me.  My dad introduced Cole to Fig Newtons and Mountain Dew. I have tried to forgive him. Joe’s family has shared their love of food with Cole, and instructed him on the finer points of yelling, “You Moron!” like you mean it.

Cole’s village surrounds him with vibrant colors and raises him with love, and as his mother, I really couldn’t ask for anything more.

Uh…wait.  Actually, Mom?  Easy does it on the “Obama’s Detroit decisions.”  If you keep asking Cole “…and who do you think will pay for that bailout?” you are going to give him nightmares about Democrats raiding his bank account. Again.

Below is a cutting edge video showing Aunt Carla and Cole having a little fun together. Hey, Noah, Bobbie, Abbey … go jump on the bed a few times for me, okay?

Glad you were in my Odd neighborhood. Feel free to hang around with us any time. Odd Loves Company and odd loves you and you and you!! I would love to hear from you in the comment section of this blog, or on Facebook or Twitter!

Carla reads and writes backwards, has a son who taught us all the value of a Hula, a mom who wrote a poem  to help me celebrate the demise of   “Old Ugly”  and her younger brother is,  Odd Craig.