Love this, Richard. It has a familiarity since my mom was also a college grad, NYU , while my father probably just made it through high school. The only reason they got married I think, is befall her boyfriends were in the war, while he was 4F due to having had rheumatic fever as a child. It was not a happy marriage and I remember praying that they’d divorce, but fortunately for her, he died at 52, while at a wedding dinner. Do you know how your parents met? I’m always fascinated by how these moments in time can change everything.
What a beautiful tribute to your humble mother. I think women were not taught to talk about themselves. During the summer of 1973, I took care of an elderly woman who earned a PhD in Chemistry around 1922, one of the first women in the US to earn such a degree. Miss Bartow never married because she understood what marriage would demand. She taught at the University of Illinois
I suspect that this piece will hit home for many of its readers--most of them, actually. Every day I think of another question that I wish I could ask my father or my mother, gone for fourteen and fifteen years now.
Flight image is the center of gravity of this piece.Something in your mom’s face reminded me of a young woman I saw yesterday. She too is about to take flight.
Love this, Richard. It has a familiarity since my mom was also a college grad, NYU , while my father probably just made it through high school. The only reason they got married I think, is befall her boyfriends were in the war, while he was 4F due to having had rheumatic fever as a child. It was not a happy marriage and I remember praying that they’d divorce, but fortunately for her, he died at 52, while at a wedding dinner. Do you know how your parents met? I’m always fascinated by how these moments in time can change everything.
So glad you liked it, Charles. They met at college. His fraternity brother was dating her best friend and introduced them.
What a beautiful tribute to your humble mother. I think women were not taught to talk about themselves. During the summer of 1973, I took care of an elderly woman who earned a PhD in Chemistry around 1922, one of the first women in the US to earn such a degree. Miss Bartow never married because she understood what marriage would demand. She taught at the University of Illinois
Wow. Sounds like that could be a Donaldson novel!
I suspect that this piece will hit home for many of its readers--most of them, actually. Every day I think of another question that I wish I could ask my father or my mother, gone for fourteen and fifteen years now.
I so know what you mean, Laura!
The amazing, troubled, halting lives of those we'll never really know.
I think we have to pay homage to what-might-have-been.
Wow! You have a way of peeling back all the layers and finding the tender core of life.
Merci!
Flight image is the center of gravity of this piece.Something in your mom’s face reminded me of a young woman I saw yesterday. She too is about to take flight.
I saw the photo Betsy posted!
Powerfully moving and such great writing! I absolutely love this.
Thank you, Olivier!