register |  login
› BROOMFIELD
Loading Ad
Visit Other Hubs:
ADVERTISEMENT
Loading Tower
Blog
Blog Entry 5 of 16 My Few Sense Worth
Being a believer that everyone who has lived for any length of time has collected myriad bits of knowledge, wisdom and good miscellaneous information, and also being a firm believer in sharing, I wish to contribute, from my own unique perspective, my "few sense worth" about the following: Ponderings and ruminations about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Garnered tips and advice from years of working with and being involved in children's lives. Reflections and commentary on family, relationships and the goings on in the world around us. A potpourri of how to, how come? and why not?

Blog Url: http://denver.yourhub.com/~Myfewsenseworth

Imprisoned in boxes
Contributed by: Carol Gioia   on 10/28/2007

Everything she treasured was stored in a box on her closet shelf...

She was the oldest daughter of a New England farmer. It was difficult to keep her eleven siblings from touching and moving her things, so everything she treasured was stored in a box on her closet shelf. As years went on she collected more treasures, and stored them in more boxes.

She married and had six children. Her middle daughter died of infantile paralysis at the age of six. She put her treasured child in a box and buried her. There was room in the box for a large part of her own spirit and a small corner of her own heart.

Her marriage did not survive the tragedy. She acquired the title of "divorcee" in the '40s, long before divorce became a household word. Her children were labeled from a "broken home." Her home was not broken, but it was lost to her because of financial hardship. She packed her worldly goods into boxes and moved to a much smaller dwelling. Most of her belongings remained in boxes, and moving became a way of life.

Her body was boxed into a lifestyle of deprivation and poverty, but her spirit refused to be contained. She taught her children to make do, do without, pull themselves up by their bootstraps, keep their chins up, make the best of it and rise to the occasion. She, herself, practiced what she preached.

She was a Pandora's box of mixed emotions. Her casual "devil may care" manner was a clever cover for her prim and proper, fastidious, but somehow skewed, sense of right and wrong. Her laughter was infectious. She had the incredible ability to laugh at herself, but never, ever, at anyone else. Her compassion for others ran deep. She was proud, but manipulative when she deemed it necessary. She was described by some as a gypsy, a con artist, a free spirit, a party, a clever and remarkable woman.

She protested and scorned convention. She never filled in the boxes on forms, declaring, "It's nobody's business." She was never imprisoned by the rules set down by society. She made her own rules, and lived scrupulously by them. If you could abide by her rules, she welcomed you into her world. If you could not, you were discounted, discarded, cast away, with an almost indiscernible lift of her eyebrow.

She continued throughout the years to drag her boxes of things with her as she tested and tasted life to the fullest. She frequented flea markets, garage sales, auctions, yard sales, and collected more things. She did not easily form attachments to others, but she was possessed by her possessions. She kept a watchful eye, and if her boxes were misplaced, tampered with or missing, she mouned for them, as one would mourn lost children.

Her own offspring were kept at arm's length, for she had already learned the harsh life lesson of getting too close. Emotional distance could ward off anguish and pain. A heart can only be broken once. She'd patched hers up and kept a hard shell of protection around it thereafter. She loved deeply, but you wouldn't catch her at it, for she considered displays of affection a sign of weakness. Her children thrived in the ever changing environment and landscape spawned by her moving fetish, developing into productive and reasonably stable adults; for being her children, there was no other option.

Her faith could move mountains, her feet climbed mountains, as she traveled and moved around the country in search of the ever elusive state of contentment. She met and influenced many people with her reserved, but engaging personality. She was admired, sought after, loved, cherished, envied, ridiculed, laughed at and laughed with, as she touched lives throughout the years. Those lives were enriched for having known her.

Her legacy is already determined in her ever burgeoning list of descendants. Some have the incredible blue eyes, the gentle smile. Others have the adventuresome spirit, the entrepreneur spirit, the quick wit, the infectious laugh, the frugal character. Many display the imprint of the overall charm, cleverness and generosity of this remarkable woman, this regal matriarch, who came before them and led the way.

At 97 she is living out her remaining years in a boxy room in an upscale nursing facility. She is fragile now, unable to move about easily, but the sunny smile and determined spirit continue to shine through. She doesn't remember everything, but she remembers love, and expresses it as she never could in her younger days.

It is difficult to keep the other residents from touching and moving her things, so everything she treasures is stored in a box on her closet shelf...


SUBMIT COMMENT

Rate the above blog



Current Rating
Based on 4 user ratings.

Talk Back : submit comments to the blog

*Note: you need to log-in to add a comment or rating.

Showing 1-4 of 4 comments
Submitted By: Katherine Jerome
posted on 11/1/2007 @ 5:24:03 PM
Rated Blog Entry
Carol, your writing is to live for, and I could feel this woman in every word. Imagine my surprise when I found your kind comment on my latest story. Thank you so much, and please indulge us often with your words. Katherine
[Report as objectionable]
Submitted By: Gladys Mercier
posted on 10/31/2007 @ 7:55:45 PM
Rated Blog Entry
This is really nice.
[Report as objectionable]
Submitted By: Bill Prather
posted on 10/31/2007 @ 1:15:13 PM
Rated Blog Entry
Wonderful story.
[Report as objectionable]
Submitted By: Nikki Britain
posted on 10/29/2007 @ 10:23:06 AM
Rated Blog Entry
What a beautiful tribute!
[Report as objectionable]
Showing 1-4 of 4 comments
CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Carol Gioia

Broomfield , CO

Carol Gioia has posted 16 blog entries and 13 comments since joining on 5/12/2006. Carol Gioia 's average blog rating is 5.
BLOG ENTRY RSS FEEDS
SAVE AND SHARE THIS ITEM

BLOG LIST
WANT TO WRITE FOR YOURHUB.COM?
Want to see the stories you write and the photos you shoot featured in the YourHub.com Thursday print section available all over the Front Range and with home subscriptions of the The Denver Post? All you have to do is register, then post a story or column, start a blog or tell everyone what events are happening in town. We will print the best stories, columns, event listings, photos and blog entries in our print sections.

ADVERTISEMENT
Loading Ad

Loading Ad
ADVERTISEMENT
Loading Ad

This YourHub.com community is produced by The Denver Newspaper Agency
Web Development and Channel Analytics provided by Indigio

terms of use //  privacy policy
the staff //  advertise //  help & faq
buy photos