Inspired by Charli Mill’s Carrot Ranch, #99WordStories
from her May 9, 2022, prompt:
In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story creating a mom selfie.
Shirley, the daughter of an unfavored marriage between her Danish mother and Italian father, met, loved, and married a gentle man.
With her mom shunned by her own family, Shirley moved on.
She wanted college, but life’s immediacies drove elsewhere. Instead, she joined the biggest department store in town and soon rose to the second most senior role of assistant manager.
Everyone knew and loved her as friendly, hard-working, and driven to help others. Despite diseases and crises, her family thrived.
Shirley’s children knew almost nothing of their grandmother’s disfavored marriage.
Unnourished, this root of racism withered and died.
Gary A Wilson Stories 
Yes! Wonderful story Gary!! 😊
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Lovely story. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all types of racism withered and died.
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Hi Janis.
It would be, but we’ll only see that in heaven I fear.
Thanks for reading my story and for letting me know.
Blessings 🙌
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yep, now that works for me, Gary. Nice!
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Hey Geoff,
She was a special cut of womanhood and the older I get the more I realize how blessed we were to have her.
Thanks for giving this a read.
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Nice one Gary if only life was like that 💜
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Hi Willow.
She was far from perfect, but she nailed this point.
Thanks for giving my story a read 😃
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Thank you Gary I enjoyed it 💜
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Hey / the ending really weighed this with some beauty and Shirley sounds awesome
It my favorite line was
“Shirley moved on.”
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Great work on this piece of flash, Gary. That last line is a killer and made me smile. It just proves that if we let go of parts of our past, those memories will die (but only if we allow them to die).
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Thanks Hugh.
She was a gem 💎
My sisters & I were fortunate to have her protecting and raising us.
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Nicely done Gary! That last line is a beauty 🙂
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Hi Debbie
Thanks for giving it a read.
The older I get, the more I appreciate everything she did for us.
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LOVE this one Gary…so true!!
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Spoken like a peer high-quality mom 👩
My sister’s and I were fortunate to have her.
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If only all racism could do the same. This sounds like it was based on a true story, especially from reading your comments. 🙂
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Oh yes, this story is true.
My sisters & I were blessed with an extraordinary mom.
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I’m glad she moved on. that must have been difficult.
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Wow! That last line is a stunner. Excellent read! ❤
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Hi Colleen, thanks but I hope you also gave Charli’s version a read. Her’s was even better. But I so appreciate you spending some time on mine.
🙂
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Absolutely. This was the Mom’s 99word stories. ❤
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opps – my mistake! This one was in honor of my mom – a part of her story. I think I need more coffee. . .
😉
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LOL! No worries. I’ve done the same myself.
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Would that all racist thoughts and beliefs fall to undernourishment. I don’t know if this is a piece of fiction or not, but regardless of that you did a really nice job of capturing a life, and a mother, in so few words.
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Hi Michael. thanks for giving my story a read. This one was true – based on my mom and hers. My sisters and I are still coming to understand all the things our mom did to protect and civilize us. I honestly did not know much about the pressure my grandparents dealt with because they fell in love and made a great family. My mom really did starve that part of their past.
Brilliant – don’t you think?
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Good one, Gary. Sometimes not knowing our natural family is a blessing though we don’t understand until we are adults.
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So true 👍
I know several folks who suffered from less qualified parents than I enjoyed. My parents actually collected some of them and welcomed them to stay beneath our roof.
Our home was a wonderful kind of nuts.
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“A wonderful kind of nuts,” that would have been fun to experience I think.
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Thanks for giving my story some of your time. I always enjoy your feedback 😊
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When my husband (then boyfriend) at the time told his dad he was dating me, a Filipina with a college degree. His immediate reaction was, “oh (and the word that rhymes with fit).” Later on when I got my Master’s degree, I thought “he’s probably rolling in grave now because now I have an advanced degree.” And some of his cousins and friends brought up some not-so-nice stereotypes about my ethnicity. At the time it was so hard to deal with it. Their world was so off-balance and left in disarray because there’s a successful Filipina? We decided it was best to break away from those “haters’ and navigate allies who supported our relationship.
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I have a story for you Julie. It’s a true event from my “I Recall” collection from the mid 1970s. It’s about my best friend from a trade school and his Filipina girl friend. It also about good friends. One fully white. The other, half Flip & half black.
https://garyawilsonstories.wordpress.com/the-most-audacious-birthday-gift/
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BTW – I married up also.
I have a simple BA & my wife, a law degree. I just always saw it as the best thing I could do – why would any guy not want the brightest woman in the room?
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My godfather was a Filipino and one of my very favorite people. He taught me many special things and took his role very seriously even into my adulthood, through many difficult trials our family had to navigate. I loved him dearly and still remember the wisdom he shared with me. He was a brave young boy who had fought as a child with his brother for a time in WWII on the Island before evacuating to SF where he met my parents in junior high school, eventually becoming a teacher in SF. I was fortunate to have been raised in such a diverse culture before moving to North Carolina where I was able to teach others by example. Just keep being yourself Julie there are people who will see who you are. Ignore the rest.
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