Here is a picture I put together of four generations of us womenfolk: My mother’s mother, my mother, me, and my birth daughter.

Grandma was Lily Genarose Green, from Leitchfield, Kentucky. My grandfather divorced her when I was about two. I clearly remember when he came in, all het up about something, and announced his intention to her. I don’t think he even saw me in the room, because I was behind my mother. “They” said she paid too much attention to her good works and not enough to her family. The people I know who knew her have nothing bad to say about her, so I don’t know what he was so mad about. She trained and got a job as a Licensed Practical Nurse. Mom took Grandpa’s side in the divorce, so she and Grandma saw nothing of each other all the time I was growing up. I would visit with Grandma once or twice a year. She seemed cold, but kind. I think the coldness I perceived was just reserve. She got hepatitis from one of her patients and was given little time to live. We had her stay with us for a few weeks while one of her brothers converted part of his house for her. She and I did some cooking together and talked. I liked her very much, and was sorry when she moved out. Mom and I weren’t with her when she died.

Mom is Ruth Genarose Turner. Her mother always hated having the middle name Genarose, and would never tell anybody what her middle name was, but then named her daughter the same name and called her by it. Grandpa had twin aunts, Ruth and Rose, and Mom was named after them, too. Mom was divorced before Grandma was, when I was just a baby. I have no contact with my father, and never did, much. Mom worked at the Health Department when it was located in Louisville. When it moved to Frankfort, she moved there for a couple of weeks to see if she wanted to move with it permanently. I stayed with a friend of hers in Louisville. She decided not to move to Frankfort, and I think that was when she started working for Corhart Refractories, which then became a division of Corning Glass (where the Corningware comes from). She worked nights selling Tupperware. Got some Tupperware party stories, you bet. When Corning moved its offices to Corning, New York, Mom did move, and took Grandpa and Grandma (his second wife, who I loved dearly) with her. I was all grown up, so I stayed in Louisville. Mom retired as Accounting Manager of the Ceramic Products Division.

Me. ‘Nuff said.

The Amazing Sara Marian is a writer, an editor, and an archaeologist. Amazing.

Stories. So many stories. So many characterization wrinkles. So much conflict.

Everything is about writing.

A WRITING PROMPT BASED ON MY POST: Write everything you know or have heard about one of your relatives.

MA