Wednesday, July 2, 2008

A Wednesday Word: making wednesday worthwhile

rac·on·teur [rak-uhn-tur; Fr. ra-kawn-tɶr]
–noun, plural -teurs

a person who is skilled in relating stories and anecdotes interestingly.

Origin: 1820–30; <>re- + aconter to tell, account) + -eur -eur]

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When I grow up, I’d like to be like my Tia Kika. She’s one of the strongest women I’ve ever met and she has THE BEST stories on the face of the earth. Why I’ve never considered having a recorder of some type with me when she’s telling stories is beyond me. She uses words in Spanish that I never knew existed and to this day can’t think of what they are but WOW – She’s the perfect person to have around if you want a good heart exercise.

She is my late-grandfather’s oldest sister. She’s become really good friends with my grandmother (her sister-in-law). Since she lives in Mexico, I don’t get to see her often, but when I do I LOVE LOVE LOVE the off the wall stories she tells.

Here’s one that I remember. (Keep in mind that I am not the raconteur, my aunt is. Me telling the story gives it NO justice!)

One afternoon, Tia Kika notices that the water heater went out. She calls the water heater guy to come replace it. He does, but he just hooked it up without turning it on or anything. As she’s working on her stuff, she notices the hot water isn’t working and thinks it’s crazy because she just got the water heater replaced. She goes to check out the water heater and diagnose the problem – the problem being that the SOB didn’t light the water heater! Being the resourceful woman that she is, she gets a rag and dips it in diesel lights it to light up the water heater. When she puts the match to the rag there’s an “explosion” singeing the hair off of her arms and face. Yes – She even singed her EYEBROWS and her bangs!!!
That is one story of a million! I love her so much! And if I can be like her when I grow up (minus dipping rags in diesel and singeing my arm hair and eyebrows) I will be one lucky woman!

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