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Saturday
17 November 2001
 

 
I was talking with Matthew's mom and she told a story about working in a convalescent home when she was younger. I began thinking about how we construct stories about ourselves. I think this is especially true of parents with their children. You talk about on job but not another. You focus on different activities, different events, life changes... Your children only know you from the point they are born, so you repeat memories for them until they've reconstructed the past you have shared with them.
 

 
Perhaps my family tree obsession has to do with these stories. My parents talked about their youth, but never created a greater family mythos for me. The never said, "Your great grandmother..." My mom doesn't remember her grandparents at all, and my dad only remembers that his observed the Sabbath and liked to play Pinoccle. I am forced to seek the stories myself, by digging through archives and gathering documents.
 

 
My mom wants to change her story. She is ready to reconstruct the way we view her. She wants to move, immediately. As should be apparent by now, I am a bit impulsive and with throw myself into any new project that excites me. I get this from my mother. She collects collections, obsessing over one until another takes her fancy. Before ebay, it was telephones, angels, and mermaids. Since ebay it has been Jadit(e), Elgin watches, cameo earrings, disability stuff, early teaching materials, various vintage advetisements, and now hand-written cookbooks.
 

 
When I was in high school she decided she was moving to Ohai. She began looking for a place, looking at schools for us up there, etc. Now, she is moving to Ohai again. She wants to have the house on the market in January. I am not as upset about her selling my childhood home as she has anticipated, but I see a few problems with her scheme. First is that my mother is a major pack rat, and it will take her four years to clean out her house. Second is that her boyfriend of 12 years lives in LA (her response is, "But it's only an hour away!" and third is that our dog is 10 and probably does not want to move at all. So I wonder if my mom's passion for this change will sustain the annoyance of cleaning out a house she has lives in for 26 years. Will she make a new story about the time she got sick of Los Angeles and moved to Ohai?
 

 
We have a little moisture problem in the fridge...