Saturday, July 22, 2023

My Paternal Grandmother Was Scarlett O'Hara!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


                                 No, darlings, none of us are related to or resemble Vivien Leigh; had it been so, I would have put those looks to use, I can tell you.



                                Today would have been my paternal grandmother's 142nd birthday.  She died in 1984, before her birthday, at the age of 102.



                                 She was a small, Irish woman, but, like Scarlett, she ran the show.



                                She gave birth to six children in the Bronx of the early twentieth century, Like Scarlett, she had them all at home.



                                She was strong and determined, like Scarlett.  When the 1918 flu epidemic hit New York City, she got the family out of the city, to New Brunswick, New Jersey.  Just like Scarlett got Melanie, the baby, and Prissy out of Atlanta, and back to Tara!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



                                She sent three boys to college, saw them survive World War II, and passed on her passion, and strength to me.  David says I am strong, but sometimes I doubt it.  But I can rise to the occasion.



                                 ANNA says Scarlett O'Hara was the most fashionable woman in American literature.  My grandmother may not have been a fashionista, but she traveled to America in steerage to create a better life for herself, and others, which she did.



                                 Every time I think of Scarlett, or watch Vivien Leigh enact her, I think of my paternal grandmother.



                                  Happy Birthday, Me Ma!  That's what we called her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2 comments:

  1. Have you ever watched “Finding Your Roots” with Henry Louis Gates?!!
    I always get emotional when I hear what people’s ancestors went through.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Victoria,
    I have never heard of this program,
    but it would interest me. It is startling
    to hear what others underwent prior to our
    generation.

    ReplyDelete