Through Any Given Door ~ I imagine it’s no coincidence that my writing began when I was 53, the same age my mother was when she called it a day. Nor that it took me five years to write our chronicles, the same amount of time I lived with her when I was a kid. I have a suspicion she’s had a hand … [Read more...]
Archives for November 2018
Through Any Given Door, Part III (in full)
and the final third of the story… Through Any Given Door, a Family Memoir Part III Home Movies La Habra and San Francisco 1958 – 1968 by Catherine (Clemens) Sevenau ~~~~~~~~~ June 1958 • La Habra, Orange County, California ~ I had my picture taken with our neighbor Renie, said goodbye, then … [Read more...]
3.46 Sin and Prayer
Epilogue ~ My parents were like black and white, oil and water, sin and prayer. My father, not one to boil over, married a kettle of emotions. If he could have loosened his grip and if my mother hadn’t completely unraveled, perhaps my childhood would have been different. But it was what it was. … [Read more...]
3.45 A Kind of Holiness
Full Circle ~ Over the decades my mother has been following me around, showing up in my stomach, my bones, and my dreams. She used to be a dull ache inside me, but not so much anymore. She wasn’t cruel or abusive—there was no sliver to take out, no bullet to remove, no thorn to pluck. In the five … [Read more...]
3.44 No Flowers
November 1968 • La Habra ~ When my mother died, what remained of her life was packed in her small Hillman, now parked in Carleen’s driveway. The front bench-seat held her clothes, small feather pillow, and jewelry; the back bench, her black and gold Singer, button collection, and sewing box. In the … [Read more...]
3.43 Rainbows and Red Devils
Fall of 1968 • Whittier ~ Over the years Mom managed to get along. She worked for room and board with a small monthly salary for clothes, her car, doctor bills, and prescriptions. By the end, she couldn’t hold a job, couldn’t care for herself, the hospitals wouldn’t keep her anymore, and family … [Read more...]
3.42 Positively Haight Street
Haight Street ~ 1968 was the year to spread my wings. Dad couldn’t pay me more than he paid the girls (who were all making $2.00 an hour) so after seven summers and five Easter and Christmas vacations working in his store, I flew across the street and got a teller job at Great Western Bank for … [Read more...]
3.41 Killing Time
1968 • Northern California ~ In April of 1968, Mom found herself, along with everything she owned in her car, on the doorstep of a niece. Surprised, her sister's daughter not seen or heard from my mother in two decades. She sensed Mother had no place to go and graciously gave her a place to stay. … [Read more...]
3.40 A Full Mass
October 7, 1967 • San Francisco ~ Five months later, on a crisp October day, my father slowly escorts me down the tiled aisle of Holy Name of Jesus, our church in the Sunset. I look like a princess dressed in the white wedding dress that my stepsister Janet wore when she married. It fits like a … [Read more...]