For This Also, Thanks Mom :: CR99 220510

Inspired by Charli Mill’s Carrot Ranch, #99WordStories
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.

dead plant 1

GW bio card 4

34 thoughts on “For This Also, Thanks Mom :: CR99 220510”

  6. 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).

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  10. Pingback: Mom Selfies Collection « Carrot Ranch Literary Community

  12. 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.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. 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?

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    1. 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.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  14. 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.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    2. 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?

      Like

      Reply

    3. 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.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

Leave a comment