This post was written in 5 minutes, No pre write, no edits, no obsessing...GO
SING
"WOW! Emily Ann, when it comes to ABBA, you sure can sing!" The words fell from my mom's lips so easily. It was as if she complimented me like that every day. This would be the only time I remember my mom ever giving me such a compliment.
We were laying on the rust colored, shag carpetof our wood paneled basement on Sequioa Drive in Eagan, Minnesota. I was 9. Earlier that morning my dad had packed what was left of his things to leave for what would be the final time. Molly had retreated to the basement to work things out with a bottle of Ernest and Julio Gallo wine and a stack of ABBA records.
Despite the alcohol, I loved this afternoon with my mother. We sang, we laughed and we talked. During that afternoon our world was not filled with chaos and confusion.  There was only a connection that my mother and I made in that moment. The bond we created that afternoon would help sustain me through our very rocky relationship. I would and still do call on those memeories many times to remember the feelings, to see that glimpse of my mom.
My mother was a deeply complicated yet amazingly beautiful person. She was born into a family where such a free spirit and fragile personality could never thrive. Then just barely out of college and with dreams of becoming a dancer and a teacher, she fell into an obligatory marriage. This marriage, was a way out she told me. It would silence any voice my mom had left.
However, that afternoon, in our basement as we sang along with the songs she loved from ABBA, I saw a glimpse of that spirit, of this stranger I called "Mom". Through the lyrics and the stories she told me that day, I got to know Molly and what made her sing.


Comments

  1. Gayl WrightApril 23, 2017 at 1:12 PM

    What a beautiful memory that is of the special time with your mom! I'm glad it has helped you through other harder times. Thank you for sharing. You write beautifully.

    By the way, I also have 7 kids, all grown now, ranging in age from 20 to 40.

    I'm your neighbor at #FiveMinuteFriday. Blessings to you!

    ReplyDelete

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