My mother has, throughout almost every second of my life, known how to press my buttons. Some of the worst decisions I've made have been seconded by her or in reaction to her. It's been, overall, a pretty unrewarding relationship, emotionally speaking. Yet it wasn't always that way. When I was a very little girl, we were a cute team.
That said, in the last two years, since David's death and her two-day ordeal on the bedroom floor and subsequent move to assisted living, her more pleasant, less narcissistic traits, her good points, if you will, have begun to emerge popping up in unexpected spots, like crocuses on an interstate highway. No less real for being pretty much invisible.
While she was cleaning out the house (still for sale, any takers?), my sister found a box of my oldest books, my Chatty Cathy doll, Thumbalina, the majorette uniform I wore in the St. Fidelius marching band --- and an obscure blue dress that just happened to be my favorite. dress. ever.
Thanks, Mom.
5 comments:
What a wonderful gift! Would've been my favorite dress, too - not frilly, but girly enough to feel pretty.
exactly. i love that it has two parts
Maybe the circle that is you and your Mom is being completed - you'll be a team again. It's never too late. She obviously cared enough about you to have held onto those pieces of the past. Some more of your time travel?
C.R.
I think I had a dress jes' like that!
Mama means well, but ain't it a kick in the teeth to find she was flawed? Like seein' Cinderella in her skivvies an' noticin' she din't shave her laigs.
Oh Chatty Cathy...I had one of those. Your relationship with your mother sounds so similiar to mine. I also have momentos that my mother keep over the years (course my mother was a pack rat and keep everything). Love the little dress.
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