The most I know about my grandmother on my mother's side is that she was born in Missouri, had a short temper and that she didn't suffer fools gladly.
Mom said that on Saturdays, my grandmother would take mom and her siblings on the streetcar to Milwaukee's Central Library.
On one of those trips my mom, who was short, was struggling to keep up with my tall grandmother's long strides. Evidently the sidewalk was bustling with people and mom was holding my grandmother's hand for dear life.
Mom ultimately tripped up a curb and ran smack dab into the stomach of a tall man going in the opposite direction. All she heard upon impact was OOF.
My grandmother impatiently stopped, looked down at my mom and and said Geneva, you oughta sue the city for building the sidewalk so close to your a$$.
Mom said the extended family gathered every summer someplace in Missouri. All the aunties, uncles and cousins went to some relative's farm, but I've never known whose farm it was or exactly where in Missouri it was.
What I do know is that mom and her siblings were little around this time. As little ones do, they parroted what they heard from the other farm cousins and began heckling their mom with cries of "Auntie Mary, Auntie Mary, Auntie Mary until my grandmother calmly, but impatiently told them You damn fools, I'm your MOTHER, not your auntie.
I never met Mary Jane Godley. She died at 48 -- nearly twenty years before I was born -- so everything I know is second-hand from my mom's voice. Mom's no longer here either. She never got to meet my daughter whose middle name is hers.
Mom said that on Saturdays, my grandmother would take mom and her siblings on the streetcar to Milwaukee's Central Library.
On one of those trips my mom, who was short, was struggling to keep up with my tall grandmother's long strides. Evidently the sidewalk was bustling with people and mom was holding my grandmother's hand for dear life.
Mom ultimately tripped up a curb and ran smack dab into the stomach of a tall man going in the opposite direction. All she heard upon impact was OOF.
My grandmother impatiently stopped, looked down at my mom and and said Geneva, you oughta sue the city for building the sidewalk so close to your a$$.
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| Yeah, she's smiling here but I still wouldn't mess with her and I'm her granddaughter. |
Mom said the extended family gathered every summer someplace in Missouri. All the aunties, uncles and cousins went to some relative's farm, but I've never known whose farm it was or exactly where in Missouri it was.
What I do know is that mom and her siblings were little around this time. As little ones do, they parroted what they heard from the other farm cousins and began heckling their mom with cries of "Auntie Mary, Auntie Mary, Auntie Mary until my grandmother calmly, but impatiently told them You damn fools, I'm your MOTHER, not your auntie.
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| Cousins someplace in Missouri that you can only reach via Route 66. Mom's the only one not facing the camera. Go figure. |
I never met Mary Jane Godley. She died at 48 -- nearly twenty years before I was born -- so everything I know is second-hand from my mom's voice. Mom's no longer here either. She never got to meet my daughter whose middle name is hers.
But her memories, her stories were to me pieces of a puzzle that I needed to assemble.
I needed to know who I was and how we got here from someplace in Missouri.
I needed my daughter to know that her life began long before a grandmother and a great-grandmother she never knew.
On Saturday, August 18, we took Route 66 for Missouri hoping to piece together this puzzle. Along the way, I learned much more than our family origins or how the heck we ended up in Milwaukee.
And it all fed my soul.
More on that later.
I needed to know who I was and how we got here from someplace in Missouri.
I needed my daughter to know that her life began long before a grandmother and a great-grandmother she never knew.
On Saturday, August 18, we took Route 66 for Missouri hoping to piece together this puzzle. Along the way, I learned much more than our family origins or how the heck we ended up in Milwaukee.
And it all fed my soul.
More on that later.
Lesson 1: slow down and pay attention to the beauty of the journey.
Beautiful. The scenery, your words, the memories, despite them not being your own. <3 Sending you love.
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