Today I happened to come across a nostalgic article by author Kelly Corrigan,
"Apparently, My Mom Was Once a Girl." Her story of the day that she discovered the girl her mother had once been, via old letters between her father and her mother, reminded me so much of a poem I wrote years ago, when I was in my 20's and made a similar discovery about my mom. Here's the poem:
Blush
by Susan L. Lipson
Mom? Blushing?!
"Bobbi!" (He calls her
"Bobbi"?!)
Then this apparently familiar
stranger
Who obviously wishes to hug her,
But doesn’t—
Probably notices me,
Notices our resemblance—
Ogles her and sighs,
“You look just as gorgeous,
as you did…what is it now…25 years
ago. Wow."
That was before I even knew
her,
before Dad even knew her--
Dad, who never calls her
"gorgeous."
Now she's giggling. Really? Mom?!
"Remember when...,"
he reminds her,
and she beams,
misty-eyed--Mom?!
And this "Al" smiles at her appreciatively--
up and down--
and she lowers her eyes demurely,
but almost smirking. Mom?!
But who IS he--rather, WAS he--to
her,
this giddy, blushing
"Bobbi" girl,
a.k.a. Mom
a.k.a. Barbara,
a.k.a. Dad's wife?
MY DAD'S WIFE.
She's laughing now.
Flirting? Nah.
Smirking again. Mom!
She's red,
and I'm green,
in every sense of the word.
"Bobbi"
Do you remember when you first "saw" your parent as her/his former, single self, the object of someone's romantic desire, someone other than your other parent? Remember that day in words and write your own memoir or poem to capture that life-altering moment.
