Monday, and where's that cool weather they've been bragging about?
My granny spent most of her childhood, from about age 10 to 16, in the Masonic Children's Home. She married my grandpa while still in her teens; he was from the Home too. She learned to sew in high school (Soldan High) and made all our clothes. She took care of me, my sister, and our five cousins for a good part of our childhoods, as well as our mentally-ill (most likely schizophrenic) Aunt Betty, her fourth child. She was the terror of pontificaters at her church, debating scripture and how to behave with one and all. She was ahead of her time socially; she worked occasionally at a Black (she would say "Colored" or even "Nigger") church, to the annoyance of some of her own church members. I think I must have inherited my default attitude of skepticism from her. She and Grandpa grew rhubarb and tomatoes in their back yard, along with roses, gladiolas, and bachelors' buttons. They were no-nonsense, unsentimental people, not very good at giving or receiving compliments. Granny's stock answer when anyone said anything nice to her was "Well, I don't have a nickel to give you."
This lack of demonstrativeness was a great trial to my mother when she was growing up: she read a lot, of the sort of thing kids read then. "Little Women", "Freckles" and all those romantic children's books popular in the 20s and 30s. She felt unappreciated and to this day (she's 94!) often complains: "Mother always liked Betty more than the rest of us." Or, "My daddy never held my hand" or "Nobody ever told me I was pretty". I never know what to say to her when she goes on like that.
This lack of demonstrativeness was a great trial to my mother when she was growing up: she read a lot, of the sort of thing kids read then. "Little Women", "Freckles" and all those romantic children's books popular in the 20s and 30s. She felt unappreciated and to this day (she's 94!) often complains: "Mother always liked Betty more than the rest of us." Or, "My daddy never held my hand" or "Nobody ever told me I was pretty". I never know what to say to her when she goes on like that.