Monday, January 8, 2007

Starting Over

I am rewriting history. That's what all memoir writers do: create a movie seen through the eyes of one completely unobjective viewer. Although I am not in the starring role of this film, I admit, unabashedly, that it is all about me.
The main characters are two women whom I admired- loved even- and was most often baffled by: great souls whom, in my frustration, I abandoned in the end and only came to really know several years after their deaths.
Zora and Hughberta Steenson were my husband's aunts. They were artists: Zora made her living as a professional artist all of her very long life; Hughberta had a more varied working career, but always had her hand in some art related business. Both were lifelong art students- accomplished and at times well recognized. Bob's father was their "baby" brother: a rational, practical man who survived an impoverished childhood and the material and educational deprivations of the Depression to become an executive in one of the nation's largest corporations. Forces of Nature and Nurture in their quirky dynamics had produced a remarkably dissimilar set of siblings.

7 comments:

ddmichel said...

Awesome Mary, I have always wanted to see this story in print! This is great and I can't wait for more!
Love, Deborah

Julia said...

Keep going - we have all waited so long for this. It's beautiful - they're holding your seat on Oprah! Julie

lizgwvet said...

Fantastic, I can hardly wait for more, liz

Unknown said...

Thank you for sharing. I'm learning more about them and love it!
Lisa

Unknown said...

Thank you for sharing their story with us. You are are terrific writer. They were such an interesting pair, I am eager to learn more about their lives and get to know who they were.
Teresa

ImGrateful said...

Dear Mary,

What a wondrous outlet for your enormous talent. In the words of one of my favorite poets, Philip Larkin.."This Be The Verse."

Love,
Rosalind

Bonnie Char said...

Dearest Aunt Mary,
You go girl!
Love you,
Bonnie