Jersey Girl
My mother has been an instrumental force in shaping who I am today. For those that don't know me all that well, most of you, let me provide you with a bit of background about my family.
My dearest mom has been dealt an interesting card in life. I am the second youngest of seven kids*. My mom actually had 10 births, but three of her first five children died at infancy. My mother and father got divorced in the mid 80's with three boys under 16 still in the house. A couple years after my parents divorced, my oldest brother/mentor quickly became gravely ill and died of AIDS. Sadly only a couple years later my other brother died in a tragic car accident. These untimely deaths shook our family to the core and had us afraid to pick up any ringing phones. Meanwhile my grandparents were losing grip. My mom's mother suffered from Alzheimer's for over 10 years. My grandfather was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease late in his life and wasn't able to distinguish his daughter from one of his nursing home caretakers.
As you can see the deck has been stacked against my mother for some time. Awful to say this, but she has outlived five of her children.... which is something no parent should have to witness. She was able to find peace and happiness in her own yarn store which she had owned since the mid 80's. It was her pride and joy or what I called another child. This is the place where customers became friends. It was her hobby and career rolled into one. I spent many hours in that store as a child or across the street in the video arcade mastering my Pac-Man moves. Unfortunately a yarn store doesn't tend to bring in lots of money. My mom was clever though and was able to get us financial sponsorships. My baseball team fees somehow always got covered as well as my swimming fees. I hardly ever noticed that we didn't have any money. I was happy and therefore didn't care. My mother tried her best to keep her yarn store going through the late 90's, however it just wasn't happening. She eventually had to fold up shop in January of 1999. It was a sad day for the family.
Elaine spun her wheels for the next couple years, looking for work and barely managing to keep a roof over her head. Today I am happy to report she has come full circle. Things are looking up for my mom. She works two jobs, and one of them has her teaching knitting lessons a few times a week. It appears that knitting, crocheting, and needlepoint are now trendy with the younger people. She's making progress everyday and proving to me that perserverance does pay off.
*Six of her seven children graduated from the University of Washington and all of us have kick ass names. Mine is of course the coolest of them all. Here they are once again for new readers, Everett, Egan, Ethan, Evans, Eliot, Elisa, and Emery. I think we all did pretty well staying out of trouble and developing unique identities. For the most part we all avoided any major problems. Hell, I have never even smoked pot and that's no lie. So to wrap up Ladies Appreciation Week with a post about my mom only seems fitting. Her infectious smile and positive attitude keeps things in perspective.
My dearest mom has been dealt an interesting card in life. I am the second youngest of seven kids*. My mom actually had 10 births, but three of her first five children died at infancy. My mother and father got divorced in the mid 80's with three boys under 16 still in the house. A couple years after my parents divorced, my oldest brother/mentor quickly became gravely ill and died of AIDS. Sadly only a couple years later my other brother died in a tragic car accident. These untimely deaths shook our family to the core and had us afraid to pick up any ringing phones. Meanwhile my grandparents were losing grip. My mom's mother suffered from Alzheimer's for over 10 years. My grandfather was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease late in his life and wasn't able to distinguish his daughter from one of his nursing home caretakers.
As you can see the deck has been stacked against my mother for some time. Awful to say this, but she has outlived five of her children.... which is something no parent should have to witness. She was able to find peace and happiness in her own yarn store which she had owned since the mid 80's. It was her pride and joy or what I called another child. This is the place where customers became friends. It was her hobby and career rolled into one. I spent many hours in that store as a child or across the street in the video arcade mastering my Pac-Man moves. Unfortunately a yarn store doesn't tend to bring in lots of money. My mom was clever though and was able to get us financial sponsorships. My baseball team fees somehow always got covered as well as my swimming fees. I hardly ever noticed that we didn't have any money. I was happy and therefore didn't care. My mother tried her best to keep her yarn store going through the late 90's, however it just wasn't happening. She eventually had to fold up shop in January of 1999. It was a sad day for the family.
Elaine spun her wheels for the next couple years, looking for work and barely managing to keep a roof over her head. Today I am happy to report she has come full circle. Things are looking up for my mom. She works two jobs, and one of them has her teaching knitting lessons a few times a week. It appears that knitting, crocheting, and needlepoint are now trendy with the younger people. She's making progress everyday and proving to me that perserverance does pay off.
*Six of her seven children graduated from the University of Washington and all of us have kick ass names. Mine is of course the coolest of them all. Here they are once again for new readers, Everett, Egan, Ethan, Evans, Eliot, Elisa, and Emery. I think we all did pretty well staying out of trouble and developing unique identities. For the most part we all avoided any major problems. Hell, I have never even smoked pot and that's no lie. So to wrap up Ladies Appreciation Week with a post about my mom only seems fitting. Her infectious smile and positive attitude keeps things in perspective.
posted by egan at
12:55 AM
