CPL. Ciara M. Durkin - Niece's and Nephew's Stories

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From: Nora C.

When Auntie Ciara came over, she used to come down the basement and hang out with the “kids” while the adults were upstairs. And once when she was ‘it’ during a game of Chinese school, she put tea towels on each of her ears, and pretended to be a rabbit. She was trying to make us laugh, and we were trying really hard not to. Then she kept changing which animal she was until we all started laughing.

Once she was teaching all of us how to salute. She said that no matter what, you weren’t allowed move. So my cousin Brian stood very still and Auntie Ciara walked up to him and said, “You can’t even move if your commander does this:” and she put her finger in her mouth and then wiped it on Brian’s forehead. Then everyone started laughing and Brian said, “ewwwww!”

One time she told us about how she went to a Red Sox game. She was sitting behind where Manny Ramirez played. She called out to him, “Manny baby! We love you!” and then he turned around and gave her a peace sign.

On Easter, it was always the adults who hid the eggs and then they’d call for the kids after they were all hidden. There were special metallic eggs that always had something special inside them, and so they were hidden the hardest. That year, my aunt Ciara had the job of hiding those eggs. I still hadn’t found my metallic one, so when I asked her for help, she couldn’t remember where she had hidden it. After about 10 minutes of searching, she remembered: she had hidden it up the dryer vent and when we went to get it, it had gotten stuck. It took a few minutes to get it out, but I’ll never forget how much we laughed when she couldn’t get it out for me.

One time, for my birthday, she got me a tomato plant. She told me very carefully how to care for it and when to water it. Then she told me she wanted me to keep it alive for at least a week. It ended up growing two tomatoes before it started to die.

When we went to a Koch for Mayor stand out, the last time Auntie Ciara was home in September 2007, we were all standing around when my cousin Brian and I started to get attacked by a bee. My aunt was cracking up at us because we were swinging at the bee with our signs. Then we formed a picket line that we all started walking in a circle going, “Koch, Koch, Koch!” and she was laughing and joined in.

One time we were all playing Chinese school way too close to a bureau. We were all laying the floor and she started jumping around over us. Anna jumped one time when Auntie Ciara did something, and hit her head off the bureau. Auntie Ciara fell to the floor laughing at her.

When she wasn’t here for Easter this year, we learned the Evolution of Dance for her and had Uncle Pierce send it to her in Afghanistan. But when she came up in September, we got to do the dance for her, and she thought it was one of the coolest things ever. She said, “I love the Eminem part! That’s my favorite!”

One time she had us race up and down the street outside Grannies house. She kept going, “On your marks, get set, go!” But then she started saying, ‘google!’ or ‘grannie!’ instead of ‘go’. Then when she finally said, go! We said, “haha, you didn’t get us that time!” and she started laughing really hard because she had actually said ‘go’, and only Anna had started running.

One time I had on a sparkly shirt, and when we played Chinese school, she said, “Uh, like, oh my god, like, sparkly, like, duh!”. It was so funny.

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From: Anna C.

December 2006, we went with Auntie Ciara to the tree lighting in Quincy Center. She showed us her signed Red Sox hat. Then, we ran around playing tag in the dark. We had so much fun running around the lit up trees. We started doing the trust fall. She said she would catch Shauna, but when she was about to fall back, Auntie Ciara walked away by accident. We all laughed!

Last time she was home from Afghanistan, Auntie Ciara played foosball with us. I was on her team. She would bounce the ball of the sides instead of just rolling it in. When we won, we started singing “We are the Champions” very loudly until one of the adults told us to be quiet.

One time we were at Granny’s house and we were lying on the floor as she tried to make us laugh. The phone rang and she picked up and yelled “Hello! What do you want!?” We all were laughing. What she didn’t realize was that Granny had picked up the other phone at the same time. Granny said, “What do you think you’re doing?!” We were all laughing and we heard Granny say that one of the kids had picked up the phone. We all laughed because Auntie Ciara did act like a child sometimes.

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From: Shauna C.

A special memory I have of Auntie Ciara is the day she got me my American Girl Doll. It was my 7th birthday. She came over to celebrate with us. Ever since I’ve been little she has given me a Precious Moments Birthday Train with my age on it. After she gave my #7, she asked me to get her shoes off the porch. I went onto the porch to get her shoes but there was nothing but a wrapped package. I brought it inside and she told me to open it and see what was in it. When I opened it up there was an American Girl Doll. It was Kit the one I wanted! I screamed. That is a special memory that I have of Auntie Ciara.

Last time Auntie Ciara came home to America she had brought us scarves from Afghanistan. That night we were going to a family party at Granny’s. My sisters and I decided to wear them as Burka’s as a joke. Auntie Ciara laughed so hard she was in tears.

One Thanksgiving 2006, we, the kids, wanted to get something out of our Mom’s car. Auntie Ciara stole the keys from us. We tried to steal them back and a few minutes later, we were in a big pig pile on the ground. Even with six of us against one she still kept the keys. Next, she took a pillow and started to hit us with the pillow. Soon, it was a big pillow fight. It was so much fun.