I started this memoir a few years back. A chap book (strictly for family) about my mother. Two of my family members have read it so far and are enthusiastic about it. I feel if I don't write all of it down and quickly, my memories will start to fade. Letters (she was a prodigious writer to me being an emigrant) have survived which I will include. And some photos, particularly of her outside of her maternal experience as mother to us, her children.
She had first hand experience as a young child of the horror of the Black and Tan era in Ireland and the blowing up (by the IRA in Rebel Cork) of the local barracks in her village.
She was put out to service at the age of twelve to the local merchant even though she had skipped a class at her village school as she was so bright. No opportunities then. For anyone.
Through this process of writing down her life I feel I am getting to know her all over again and with the distance of her passing, see her struggles and evolution more clearly.
There is never a day goes by when I don't think of her. She died far too young and I surmise she would only have gotten more interesting with age.
Consder yourself blessed that you have such fond memories of your mother and the interest to want to write down her life story. Such fascination is not always obvious.
ReplyDeleteOh please! I would love to read all of it. Mammy had memories of the Black and Tans too. Granny had a corner shop in a South Dublin suburb. Word would filter through when the 'Tans' were doing house searches - nasty creatures they were. Granny would remove all the sovereigns from the cash drawer, call mammy and hand her the coins and tell her to put them into her pocket and keep her hands on then so as not to make noise.
ReplyDeleteNora:
ReplyDeleteShe wasn't perfect but she was all I had and her life before marriage has never failed but to captivate me.
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GM:
ReplyDeleteYour mother deserves a book of her own, and maybe your grandmother too!
I will set aside a copy for you when complete.
Those Black and Tans were appalling.
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Fascinating stuff. I hope we'll get to hear more. Glad you're getting at it. It's possible to put that stuff off too long; most of us do.
ReplyDeletei hope you do it. write the memoir. As you write you will remember more. I did it and my memoir about my mother-in-law has been enjoyed by our family and beyond. i am so glad I did it. I had no letters, but photos and anecdotes I had written down while she was still alive. Your mother sounds interesting!
ReplyDeleteI seriously love that you are doing this. xo
ReplyDeletethis is very good stuff. keep going. i'd like to do the same with my mother, but my mother is pathologically private. she doesn't even want me to tell anyone that i have a mother.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it amazing how quickly the memories pile up once you start thinking? Every day a new image or story pops into my head, not many of them pure bliss, but there they are, lining up for putting into words. Mine are not for private consumption.
ReplyDeleteThere's nobody left of that generation and I have no siblings; good, I can say what I want to say.
SJG:
ReplyDeleteI often wonder about the memories that die with people, including my own father.
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Bethanie:
ReplyDeleteWhat a marvellous thing you did! Congrats!
I will hold you in honour as I complete and there is quite a journey to go with this!
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Orla:
ReplyDeleteThanks my pet!
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Laurie:
ReplyDeleteSeriously? Because you're a *well-known* author and journalist?
How about writing about Guv?
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Friko:
ReplyDeleteGet cracking then, no censorship around you! I've already censored some in mine.
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