Telling the Truth

connecting the dots of my life

Tag: Parents

Where is my Mother? | Part 1 of 3

A Note to Mother
I still wonder where you were when I needed an advocate, a safe listening ear, a cheerleader and a comforter.  I also wonder why you thought I would be able to deal with my father without any help from you.

Since you’re not here anymore, Read the rest of this entry »

Who is my Mother?

I wish I knew. As a child I asked her to tell me her story. Sometimes she gave me bits and pieces, but she didn’t seem to think her story was very important. Especially if that meant talking about how she felt when she was growing up. Besides, there was always another baby in her arms needing attention. Read the rest of this entry »

she sits silent

she sits silent
focused and determined
not to eat

A Short Story

Suppertime, early in the 1950s
Sister #3 sits in her high chair Read the rest of this entry »

Rules for Good Girls

I grew up in a strict, rule-oriented household.  Actually, there was only One Main Rule:  Good Girls shall obey their parents in all things.

But the proof is in the Big Picture.  So just to make things perfectly clear, here’s what the One Main Rule looked like on a daily basis, Read the rest of this entry »

The Shopkeeper | Part 2 of 2

This episode in my life was a smelly, rotting stench in me all the way through school, college and my first years of marriage.  Even after I told my husband about it, I still smelled the old man regularly and without warning.  It was a living, breathing, stinking rotten nightmare.

Despite this, I never wrote it down or reflected on what it reveals about me, much less about my relationship to my parents.  I simply tried to put it away and let the past be the past.  Done.  Over.  Finished.  Time to move on. Read the rest of this entry »

The Shopkeeper | Part 1 of 2

Some things are just plain wrong. No grand theological framework, no appeal to the Bible, and no wisdom of the church or its elders can ever make them right. Read the rest of this entry »