DAY SEVEN: September 12
Mommy interview Part 2 was a slam dunk!
My mother's face lights up when she reaches again for memories of her Tobago and life in Trinidad--the sojourn to the next island she took at 9 years old. Nine years of being the only child at home, with the town as your playground, cared for by loving grandparents and extended family members. It became clear to me over the course of the interview that the nostalgia my Mom feels for her "Sweet T & T" is not completely about the place of Tobago and Trinidad but the time in her life. CHILDHOOD.
I see a little darkie girl scurrying around her village of Plymouth with the other schoolchildren, swimming in the beach, eating fresh fruit and locally grown food. Big ovens are filled with bake bread...the stillness of the afternoons. And then in Trinidad, little Lorna shelling peas with her grandmother, Mildred (whom I never met). Yuh couldn't sell just anything to Mildred. She knew what she wanted and she always got it! She was a force to be reckoned with! In all, the simplicity of country life is the bond that my mother and my father share.
"I feel sorry for you guys."
With a pained look on her face, "Trapped in the city."
"[Childhood] is something that never leaves you."
"You should be able to experience the pure joy of living. You have that resource within you. You know the joy of living...If I've done nothing else, hopefully I've imparted that."
-my Mother
I too, feel lucky to have experienced the freedom of childhood, Mom. And like you, it is something that, at times, I too mourn.
