Monday, November 18, 2024 at 2:38 PM
I was 3 months old in the womb when my grandmother found out that my mom was pregnant. She was unmarried, and unaware that she was pregnant; it was the end of the 1940’s, and women were still in the dark about matters of the body—not of the heart, that was instinctive, but of the body. My grandmother took my mom into the woods behind the house. She tied my mother to a tree, took a branch from the same tree and began to beat her. She kept whipping her until she could not lift her arms up anymore; left her tied up in the darkness, with mosquitoes and insects crawling all over her body, and went to bed. Around 4:30 in the morning, my grandfather, coming home from a hunting trip, with a deer slung over the saddle of his horse, heard this whimpering sound in the woods. It sounded human to him, so he carefully crept towards the sound, only to find his favorite daughter tied to a tree, swollen from mosquito bites, covered with insects and bruises! At first he thought he was dreaming; and then she said, “Pa!”
A man in his late forties, he was tired from being up all night. But he quickly untied her, picked her up and carried her in his arms to the big house. There were 2 houses, big house and lee house. He roughly woke up his wife and asked her what kind of animal she was to do such a thing to her daughter. My grandmother was a very religious woman and appealed to the sensibilities of her husband, but he would have none of it. He reminded her that my mother was 21, not a child anymore; and they fought for the rest of the day while my mother slept. But those were the dark ages. Six months later, I was delivered by a midwife, 12 and a half pounds, and after over 20 hours of labor! What a ting!
My mother was a very strong woman, like most women of her generation; they had to be. She did not suffer fools gladly, nor was she ever afraid to speak her mind. She gave us all her love and devotion, and was ever present in our lives! She was also very funny, could out-dance anyone, even at her very advanced age. She had a great sense of humor, and blessed me with some of the best meals in my life, especially her escabeche! How do you sum up a life, especially of one so unique? It’s impossible!
I think that, because of all the drama and unbelievable history, and the way I was introduced into this world, it made me a sensitive child, very attached to my mother, with a total distaste for violence of any kind! I think that because of that one night in the woods I turned out to be a loner, to be more comfortable being alone. At a very young age I was in love with nature and the woods and the meadows and the ponds and girls. I was always in love with someone—my teacher, my neighbor, my mother’s friend. And of course, madly in love with my mom!
There are times when I can still feel those lashes, still feel the pain my mom endured because of me. It’s all in the mind, of course; but still, you know, I feel a little bit responsible.
As I grew older and left home, I did not keep in touch as much as I should have. I wasn’t there for her when she needed me most! It wasn’t a choice; it was just the way I’ve handled love and life for as long as I can remember. Core ‘ngrato! Ungrateful heart!
Glen