My mother was an only child. She wanted a large family to get something that she didn’t have growing up. As a result, I have five brothers and sisters. I think she got a lot more than she bargained for. Raising six children is hard work. Raising six children gives you hardly anytime for yourself. There is always someone who wants a piece of your time.
So how did she find solitude? She made her own solitude.
One way, she got up at the same time as my father who worked the early shift at the produce department at the local store, LoRay. He left at 4:30 or 5:00 am and that quiet time between his leaving and us kids getting up for school was solitude time for her. During that quiet time, she read, wrote, or sewed. Sewing is what I remember most, as she made Barbie clothes for Christmas or sewed outfits for us to wear.
Another way during summer was she sent us outside to play with instructions not to return until she called us for lunch. Her solitude time then was watching soap operas, listening to the radio, or doing housekeeping work in the house. If we set foot inside, we were immediately sent back out. Only if we were seriously injured or mortally ill were we allowed inside (we could go in to use the bathroom).
When we were younger, she put us down for naps and I’m sure that was another way to have some solitude: one or two hours of free time to do some thinking, writing, or working on crafts.
As the oldest of six children, I found solitude by going down to the creek and sitting on the bank to read or write. I loved the sound of the water going over the small dam and the smell of the wet mud along the bank. Birds sang from the trees and frogs croaked from the cattails.
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| NYPL Digital Image |
#52Ancestors-Week 15: Solitude
This is my sixth year working on this year-long prompt,
hosted by Amy Johnson Crow (https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/)
at Generations Cafe. I write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or My Trails into the Past.
I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.
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