Whither Thou Goest

-
Mama was born in Missouri. Grandpa had bought land in Branson, Missouri back in the 1940's and promptly sold it saying, "I have no use for this pile of rocks." (Those of you who have been to Branson realize the irony in this statement). 

He loaded up his family and moved to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Mama was raised in the city with her four brothers, whom she loved dearly until the day she died. They doted on her and she grew up headstrong, stubborn, and rebellious. She roller skated, went dancing, rode motorcycles (before it was cool), and was definitely a wild child. 

When Daddy met her, Mama was a petite sixteen year old with pretty white teeth, full lips, and beautiful, long, auburn hair. She looked like Rita Hayworth. Rita Hayworth was at the height of her popularity when I was born so Mama named me after her. There aren't many girls (if any) named Rita nowadays.



I am going to sidetrack a little here to relate a story about Rita Hayworth. I made a home visit a few years back to a gentlemanly, retired Catholic priest who, when noting my name on my nametag, informed me there was a Saint Rita. I told him I did not know that but that my Mother had named me after Rita Hayworth. His response was, "I don't think she was a saint." I don't think she was a saint either but she was a beauty.The story of Saint Rita

And my Mama was a beauty whom my Daddy fell in love with shortly after going to work at my uncle's service station in Oklahoma City. They did not date long when, against Grandma's wishes, they traveled back to Clarksville to be married by Daddy's Pentecostal preacher father. Mama missed her Oklahoma City family and Daddy made many long trips up Highway 64 so she could see her Mother. But Daddy's family became her family and Grandma Middleton mothered her as her own. Mama was merely two years older than my little Rachel when she left all things loved and familiar to make her home with her new family.

Starting with verse 16

I am saddened to think of Mama so far from home in a land so foreign to her. Daddy and his family loved her but how lonesome she must have been for her familiar life. She said many times how she had grown to love her new family and had been with her mother-in-law years longer than with her own mother.

I remember Mama explaining the story of Ruth and Naomi and how Ruth had begged, "Whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people." And I am comforted.




Comments

  1. PondsideOctober 22, 2011 at 5:26 PM

    What a big change for a young girl - it might have been hard, but for a loving and kind mother-in-law.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Latane BartonOctober 23, 2011 at 8:09 AM

    I can relate totally. I was 17, newly married when my husband moved me from Alabama to California where he was stationed in the Navy.

    Thanks for much for your comment on my blog. I am glad you did so that I could find yours. It's delightful and interesting.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Happy Birthday Baby Sister

-
Image
Today is my sister's birthday. I was not quite nine and Mama was twenty five when she was born. Mama was much older at twenty five when she had Freda than I was when I had my daughter at that age. Mama was sick before, during, and for quite a while after this last baby was born. I remember she mostly ate only toast and jelly. Our OKC Grandma came to stay with us while Mama was in the hospital and stayed long enough to help Daddy move into a different house before they brought Freda home. We always rented. Speaking of rent houses...we looked at a really pretty house on Sevier Street while I was still in grade school. It had a big picture window and enough bedrooms that we would not have to share. Daddy said we could not get it because the rent was $100.00 a month. I do not remember what should have been the memorable event of bringing a baby sister home from the hospital. I do remember Grandma staying a little while and asking me to take a dish back to a neighbor at the end o...
Read more

Happy Mothers Day

-
Image
Somewhere there is a baby picture of me with my Mama and Daddy. They had me lying on a pillow in a straight backed kitchen chair outside Aunt Maggie's little house. They are both looking down on me and the photo does not show their faces. Of all these old pictures I have, I cannot find that one. It makes me sad. I can't find the picture of Greg and Cassie I have titled, "The Fish Story" either. So, instead I am showing a picture of my Mama with her Mama. Except Mama always had to call her Mother. She said she would not answer her unless she did. I always thought that strange as we never called her Grandmother. I don't know why Mama (and therefore me too) was so short. Grandma was fairly tall and Grandpa was a very large man. It is a funny thing about genetics, isn't it? I have uncles over six feet tall and my Daddy was only 5'7". And sometimes those blue eyes pop up in a family of brown eyed children.
Read more

A Salmon Pink and Grey Car?

-
Image
This looks like a picture of my Mama's brother Bob. It may be her Uncle Glenn. I'm not sure who the girl is. I do not remember Mama saying she rode on a motorcycle with her brother but she did say she loved riding on her Uncle Glenn's motorcycle. Shortly before she passed away, she asked my husband to take her for a ride on his bike. She chickened out after we got there.  This picture of me and my OKC Grandma was taken at Lake Ludwig. I look like a little monkey up there. I wonder whose DeSoto that was? This is an Easter picture of us in front of an old salmon pink and grey Chevrolet car. This is the car my uncle would slide down into the floorboard in fear someone would see him in a pink car. SAID UNCLE This is not my "three words the whole bus ride to OKC Uncle." This is the one that took me to the movies one time. Although he did not actually stay in the theater with me, he did come back to pick me up. The movie was not quite ...
Read more