Wednesday, July 30, 2008

A New Friend


Last night I went to dinner with two friends. One of them brought her ex mother-in-law. We sat next to each other and during the meal, I found out the following things about her:

1. She was born in 1927.
2. She had five children in seven years.
3. She grew up in eastern North Carolina.
4. She went to East Carolina Teachers College.
5. She is one of three children.
6. Her husband and her middle child, a son, never had a great relationship.

All of the above things are true about my mother too.

This woman lives about a block from me. I'm looking forward to getting to know her better. Since my mom died when she was fifty-five, this feels like an opportunity to get a glimpse of what she might have been like at eighty-one.

6 comments:

Liza said...

that's really neat. were they at east carolina at the same time?

Mamie said...

Yes, they were. But the woman, (Ellie - get it? Eloise, Eleanor?) was a day student and said she didn't get to be very active in campus activities and didn't know many people who lived on campus. She did say, though, that her best friend's last name was...MORTON! Not our Mortons, apparently, but more "whoa" anyway.

Unknown said...

oh wow. that's crazy! and very very cool.

Mamie said...

Yep, Pretty, it seems like an opportunity. Should I invite her to tea and have you over?

Unknown said...

That would be cool...but for some reason the idea scares me. I'm going to have to think about that reaction...

Mamie said...

You know, I understand that fear. I guess if I had only heard about this woman and not met her, the "idea" of her would have been strange.