The Third Generation

Meme was Mom's mom. She always had a smile on her face and a fantastic outlook on life. I don't know much about her childhood except that she lost her father at a very young age and her older sister, Nellie, had a twin that didn't make it. Her mother, who my mother always referred to as "Nanny Ainsworth", was very proper, attending afternoon tea daily. In her youth, Meme was the dream of every young man in our small upstate New York town. She married my Grandfather and had her first child at 16. Her second at 18. Her third at 20. She was a beautiful brilliant young woman and that was not the life she had planned for herself, so at 22, she left that life--husband, children and family--and moved from nowhere in upstate NY to her new sunshiny life in south Florida. Leaving behind her, devastation to all in her wake--but she would not be held down.

Meme had no regrets. She always held her head up high with her sights focused forward. Never looking back. Never looking down.

My mother has always been much the same way. I do know about her childhood and it was horrible by any standards--complete with abandonment, followed by wicked stepmother and stepsisters, alcoholic, abusive father then abusive, mentally ill husband. Did I mention poor? I mean, depths-of-despair-poor. No running water, no new clothes or shoes for school or ever, no running water... Whew! But...she always had a smile on her face and a song in her voice. She studied hard in school. She always held her head up and focused toward the future. She never looked back. She never looked down. She never dwelled.

I am the third generation. I always have a smile on my face--well, almost always. I keep my head held high--most of the time. I try to forget the past and look to the future. I guess sometimes I dwell. But mostly I try to see my past as learning, strength, hope, faith and the rocks that give my brook music.

Jen ;-)