By Jo Zeimet
What was my mother like as a kid? Boy, who knows? I realized thinking about this that I had little idea what her life was like for her. What would it be like, living in a brick duplex in hot, freezing, and barren Edgemont SD? — Three kid, not many friends, no church affiliation that would provide community, and only 2 small grocery stores and a hardware store. When she got a better car, Rapid City was within her reach and Daddy let her buy big ticket items on layaway. I think she was more or less happy, because she had a great sense of humor and sense of adventure. Part of her never left Hawaii, the music, dancing, art. She made a life out of her kids and creating beauty where she could.
As far as how Mom seemed to me, she was mostly fierce. Mom expected obedience and excellence in anything we did. She would defend us to the death if anybody looked cross-eyed at us, but pound us for perceived violations. Yes ma’am and no ma’am, all the way. She gave us tremendous opportunities by driving us to Rapid City (200-mile trip) for dancing and music lessons, travel, and supporting pretty much anything we wanted to do. She made sure we knew about classical music, the ballet, and cultural beauty. She had the gift of great story telling. She sang beautifully, a huge range and wonderful harmony. She was a wonderful free hand artist. She was very generous, giving whatever was needed, including dancing lessons for a generation or two of kids. My dad once said that you could lock mom up with 100 psychologists for a week, open the door, and the good doctors would come out babbling and nuts. She could believe two completely contradictory things at the same time with no difficulty. Mom was complex, difficult, and a great person to have in one’s life. I miss her.
Source: Jo Zeimet’s StoryWorth response. Date assigned as November 5, 2019, to match Jo’s “Favorite Toys” story; original response date unknown.
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