Let us just look closer, let us check beneath the "hooded veneer" of our mother and grandmother's famous outward persona. Let us slowly languish and savor each indelible memory recounted to us. Let us see if we cannot erase our jaded, stock portrayal of mother and grandmother for the first time. Let us see if we cannot find what they leave with us, from the collaborative bane of their existence. Let us see if we may not be the wiser through their history.
Listen again or perhaps for the first time, nonjudgmental, to the precious few anecdotal memories of our mother and grandmother's past recounted. Personally re-define, if you will, their family secrets long held in the hushed catacombs and hearts of your family. Take heed to the incessant, furtive whispers of a women's history through women's own words, as they are unlocked from their long silent treasured places.
Your mother, or your grandmother and mine and millions like her may not have recounted their "service" in WWII "Home Front" as courageous or fascinating. But their "supporting roles" during war time were every bit as daunting and challenging to them! Without choice, mother and grandmother "stormed" through life during the war era, stepping up and taking their part in the war support. And, in the end, their personal experiences have molded you and I.
Our mother and grandmother's courage, their endurance, their fears, their suffering and loss and oh, yes..their laughter still calls to you and I somewhere and somehow through time and space. And, with renewed interest, it is encumbent upon us that we heed their stories. The urgency of life back then, the drama and the hardships have all woven a tapestry from which we must learn and to which we need be mindful of.
In retrospect, by vigilance of discovery or re-discovery in hearing their stories, perhaps you'll find yourselves enlightened and learned of not only the WWII era, but of yesterday in any number of ways. Hopefully, through this discovery and appreciation of our mothers and grandmother's journey mayhaps we will all find ourselves knowing and better understanding of the propensity of human spirit. Perhaps, as well , we will find ourselves more comfortable with the ebbing flow and surge of the mysterious following tides of our mothers, grandmothers, our sisters and, indeed ourselves.
Be that as it may, shore up the knowledge of fortitude and insight of endurance learned from and of these women, our mothers and grandmothers! If alone, for the survival of future generations of women to come, hear their stories!
And why, you may ask, shall we take the time to hear the stories of our mothers and grandmothers?
