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Location: marengo, il, United States

Monday, September 18, 2006

Lunacy Tunes

Everyone but dad cheered after reading the postscript of mom’s letter. At the tender age of 65, the woman had finally reached the end of her rope.

“Today, I am done with doing housework for that ungrateful man. You can all now consider me officially retired.”

She then ripped the neatly-sandwiched batch of paper-and-carbon sheets out of the typewriter so she could scribble her signature across the bottom. Then she changed her mind and reinserting the whole thing once again, just to add one more dramatic sentence.

You could tell what she had done because the last line slanted oddly.

“Oh, and I went down and signed up for nursing classes today.”

She had, too. And she went on to complete the entire course, as well as finish near the top of her class.

Good for you, mom! Way to go!

Then, to properly celebrate, one of my crazy sisters decided it would be nice to reward the dear woman by inviting her along for a week-long holiday down at Cancun in Mexico. How nice.

(I say crazy for good cause. It makes no sense to invite my mother any place where booze tends to flow freely.)

I am only surprised that she did not bring back a new boy-friend at the end of the trip, or maybe she tried to but the crazy sister suddenly became wise and more-demanding -- no one in the family will talk much about that.

I do know, however, that late one night and on one of the star-lit, pristine beaches of the Spanish Main, my liberated mother not only entered but took home second-prize in a wet tee-shirt contest.

My mom. My dad. My sister. My family.

12 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Way to go Mom! I can't imagine having a liberated parent, although having listened to my mother talk to her mother, it was evident that their generation gap was just as great.

6:28 PM  
Blogger Janus Torrell said...

my mom became more liberated when my sister became a teenager and tried to get her to stand up for herself. Then she realized she had to. My parents are still happily married but my dad sometimes wonders what happened to his docile little wife.

6:57 PM  
Blogger James said...

Crazy dad, crazy mom, crazy sisters, well I'm thinking WE are starting to see a pattern here :^)

True story!

(I read the story and my comment to Tracie and she says Krazy nephew)

???whats up wit dat

8:33 PM  
Blogger Harry said...

Mom kept a vehement dislike for her mother close at hand, Ned, which no one quite understood. Other than that, and an occasional liquor lark, she was a fine lady.

10:18 PM  
Blogger Harry said...

Janus, I am here to attest to the fact that a teen can turn an otherwise ordinary and sane adult into an instant blathering imbecel. If you don't believe that, then read a few episodes of Zits in the funny papers. :)

10:22 PM  
Blogger Harry said...

I told you Tracie was a wise woman, didn't I?

10:23 PM  
Blogger Harry said...

Oh, and I am curious: where did dad ever find a docile wife? (not that I am interested...nooo.)

10:25 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

My lawd.....I was in that family for awhile and I think Harry's Mom and sister Alma were the only sane ones in the group ! His Dad used to sing to his monkeys........what a blast......lol

11:14 PM  
Blogger Janus Torrell said...

My dad found his docile wife from a shy middle child in just a big family. She had all the responsibility of an older sister but was cowed in by being younger. My dad was a wild man that scared her, but made her feel alive.

when she started catching on and doing things on her own, that's when she scared him. You got to watch us shy ones, when we come out of our shell no one is safe.

2:59 PM  
Blogger Harry said...

No, that was one of the crazy sisters he sang to, Sweetpea.

10:33 AM  
Blogger Wyrfu said...

.oO(Okay, so I'm the only sane one left but what advantage is there in that?)

10:47 AM  
Blogger Harry said...

None. (lol)

7:01 PM  

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