Saturday, March 31, 2007

Thirty-Four

My sister turned 34 years old yesterday. If this were 1986, and she were my Mama, she would have only one day left to live.

It is strange and surreal to be almost as old as Mama was when she died; it's like being safely tucked inside a shiny ocean-pod, propelling here and there underwater to view the funereal wreckage of the Titanic. If you focus on the sparkling rays of light coming from the water's surface, it's not so scary. Just don't let your gaze linger too long on the spirits darting in the shadowy corners of the debris.

As I near my Mama's death-age, I sometimes compare our lives. Mine is full and healthy, a giant sun with rays shedding light into so many realms: wife, mother, neighborhood activist, progressive Christian, environmentalist, professional working in the city. In contrast, by the time my Mama slipped into a coma, her darkened world had narrowed to match her atrophied, shrunken body. Everything fit within the four walls of her bedroom.

By second grade, my sister and I knew our Mama was sick. Years later I found out that Mama had battled an eating disorder for 13 years, beginning with the birth of my sister. I say battled, but I think that might be overstating it. People battle cancer: "We'll fight it with the most aggressive treatment available!" The will to live is assumed. Not so with eating disorders. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say my Mama was seduced unto death by a disease that promised happiness and wholeness if she'd only get rid of the pesky food she'd just eaten.

She held up her end of the bargain quite well, with a cleansing trip to the bathroom after each meal. If the first trip didn't do the trick, she booked her next one by visiting the stash of laxatives she kept hidden underneath the bottom drawer in her bedroom vanity. My sister and I discovered the stockpile when I was in the 3rd grade. Our growing suspicion, which had been fertilized by overheard morsels of grown-up conversations, was confirmed. We were incensed. Why did she hide these from us? Did the same hands that prayed for healing bring these poisons to her lips? We gathered them up in our arms, flushed them down the toilet, and substituted anger even though the recipe called for confusion and sadness.

As a form of suicide, I can't say I'd recommend slow starvation. It can take years to accomplish, and it is very painful. The imbalance of Mama's electrolytes gave her muscle cramps just short of hell. She shuffled to the bathtub, and lowered herself into the hottest water our heater had to offer. When that didn't bring relief, my Dad, sister, and I took turns boiling water on the stovetop, carrying it to the bathtub, and dumping it into the space Mama made for it. I stared, mesmorized, as she paddled her hands at her sides-- back and forth, back and forth-- swishing the water to spread the heat.

We know so much about eating disorders these days, you'd think my Mama could have been saved. But this was 20 years ago, and people didn't understand what was happening. Most folks averted their eyes and pretended not to notice, that is, at least while we were within earshot. I vacillated between relief-- please don't pick at my family's scabs and undercover our hidden shame--and fury-- why doesn't someone stop her from doing this to herself?

Sometimes Mama would say, "I wish I'd die so you could have a healthy Mom." What could we say in response? We thought, "This is your choice! You could be healthy!" We thought, "Go ahead and die then if that's what you want!" We thought, "Please don't die!" We said nothing.

We enjoyed periods when Mama broke up with the disease. She went East to a clinic, and when she came back she had gained a few pounds, and you could make out a hint of sparkle in her eyes, like stars hidden behind dense night clouds. She didn't look healthy so much as puffy from all of the intravenous fluids she'd been given. But this was, at least, a start. She brought back a brown-and-white stuffed bunny for each of us, as a souvenir from her vacation. She played the piano with gusto while the rest of us lay on our backs in the living room, chanting "more! more!" whenever she'd stop. But it didn't take long before she and the disease made up, the diuretics melted off the pounds, and the piano was silent again.

At her best, Mama gave me tiny glimpses of grace. In the 4th grade, I hated my teacher, Mrs. C. One day, in a rage, after Mrs. C insulted me in front of the entire class, I wrote "Mrs. C is an a**hole" on the bathroom wall. Unbeknownst to me, my pal Sherry had seen me do it, and ratted me out faster than a Libby leak on CIA identities. Mrs. C marched me into the bathroom, pointed to my art, and asked me the grade-school equivalent of "When did you stop beating your wife?" She said, "Why did you write this?" Digging my shovel down, getting a huge load of dirt to deepen the hole I'd gotten myself into, I dumped out the shovel definantly onto her feet: "Because you are," I replied. At home, there were major consequences for my actions. But after I'd quit the soft-ball team (punishment A), written and presented my letter of apology to the school's principal (punishment B) and to Mrs. C (punishment C), here's what Mama said: "Well, at least you wrote the truth. Mrs. C is an a**hole."

When I was in the 6th grade, Mama didn't get out of bed much. Each time she tried but failed to get better, my sister and I collected our bitterness, smoothed and shaped it into a nice rectangular brick, and hoisted it up onto the wall we'd erected around ourselves. When Mama fell into a coma, we pretended to barely notice. Then she was gone.

Sometimes it's hard to be without my Mama. I have so many unanswered questions: What was it like for her to be sick for so long? What was going through her head? What did she want to be when she grew up? What was it like giving birth to us? How did she fall in love with my dad? What was her favorite Christmas? I have no answers; I have only a photo album, my baby book which my Mama filled out, and a few surviving stories that extended family feels are "safe" to tell.

Last Thursday, a day before my sister's 34th birthday, I listened to author Anne Lamott read from her latest book at a local bookstore. Before the reading, Anne said that in her view, grief and anger are two of the truest things on Earth. She said, "Most people claim they want their friends and family to be happy after they're dead and gone. Not me! I want to be remembered! I want people to be very, very sad, and in every situation to think, this would be so much more fun if Anne were here. Remember all the fun we used to have?'"

At the reading, we all laughed, thinking how Anne had captured the truth in all its selfish hilarity. Later, thinking about my sister's birthday, and my Mama's death-day, I thought, maybe the best thing I can say is this: I remember you, Mama.

I remember you.

And Happy Birthday, Sister.


My kind friend over at Little Monkies honored me with a Perfect Post Award for this post. Thanks, Fran!

13 comments:

Seattle Mamacita said...

beautifully written...

Anonymous said...

Sister, it's amazing how our thoughts are connected. I've been abnormally introspective over the past few days knowing that I would outlive our mother. I've struggled with understanding what exactly that means. Am I supposed to feel something? If so, for whom? Me or my late mother whom I barely knew? Am I supposed do something? Have I lived my 34 years to abundance or am I letting my own opportunities waste away as my mother let her body waste away?

I came to a conclusion yesterday about myself. I'm not ready to die; I haven't completely fulfilled my purpose yet. I have so much more love and wisdom to pass on to my children. I have so many more "I love you's" to tell my husband and my family. I have friends who haven't yet surrendered their lives to Christ.

So while I too can say, "Momma, I remember you", I am thankful to make my 34th year all that it can be and so much different than my mother's. Maybe that's the best lesson from her death - the true appreciation of life.

Anonymous said...

Alison and Alicia... your words are touching. My mom shared with me the link to your blog, Alison, and I am so glad I had the privilege of reading it. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. It is hard to find genuine honesty these days, but it is quite refreshing to read a bit of it. :)

Marty, a.k.a. canape said...

Wow. That is quite a first post to read. Your writing is stunning.

Happy birthday to your sister. And best of luck to both of you working through the landmarks to come.

Fran Loosen said...

I'm sitting here in a puddle of tears. Aly, you are such a strong and beautiful woman who has made such a loving life. You'll never understand what it was that took your mama, but you have managed to tear down that wall and share your love and joy with all who know you. I adore you, my friend. What a wonderful gift you have.

Fran.

OhTheJoys said...

Wow. I am a friend of Fran's. She sent me here. I can't tell you how powerful that was...

Anonymous said...

To two beautiful women, for whom I have utmost respect, admiration and love, in response to Mama blog: Our lives are a collage of whom we have touched and by whom we have been touched, whether these touches are "ouches" that need a warm caress or loving ones to quietly and thankfully reflect on. I am so sorry the two of you had to endure the years of confusion and hurt that brought mistrust, fear and anger into your lives. I wish I had had the gift of healing in the years after your Mama's death when I felt the walls and, along with you, struggled to survive the fallout. I have witnessed those walls coming down the past several years and have enjoyed watching both of you win the battle. I am so thankful for your spouses and children that have played such a major part in that healing. I know there are good memories of your Mama, and I hope they will always be there, not covered by the hurt. Enjoy the healthy side of your Mama that you will see in your daughters - her talents and beauty passed on to them through you. We do not know what our future holds, but we do know who holds our future. As you continue to seek the Lord in your lives past 34, He will continue to honor your faith and create beauty from ashes as He has promised. I love you both, and your families. Thanks for the privelege of being Gramma.

S said...

Beautiful.

A family member of mine has long struggled with anorexia.

It was not until I was in graduate school (in clinical psychology) that I learned something that has fundamentally changed my perspective on the disorder.

Starvation has physiological consequences, and those we all know: loss of one's period, electrolyte imbalance, etc., etc.

But it also causes some pretty serious changes in thinking, which are what allow an anorexic to look in the mirror and see a "normal" weight or even an overweight reflection.

The changes in thinking contribute as much to the stubbornness of and difficulty in treating the disease as anything else. In advanced stages of starvation, thinking becomes practically psychotic.

That knowledge has helped me to understand my family member so much better.

Amy said...

I don't have the right words for you. All I can think to say is that this moved me tremendously and that your writing is so personal and so powerful.

I am so sorry you are without your mom, and that you were without her even as she lived.

I lost my dad three years ago. It is a pain that never goes away.

JChevais said...

Amazingly written.

Can't think what else to say other than I was deeply touched by your story.

Happy Birthday to your sister.

Anonymous said...

That post deserves 34 perfect post awards!!!

I am amazed by your candor and experience...

Hugs.

And Happy Birthday to your sister. She is 34 years beautiful and has so much more to give...

Unknown said...

I wish I could do something. when I first read this posting at grandma and grandpa's I thought maybe I could interview all the family on film. But then I realized that there is another half of the family that i don't know.
I also think that it would be awkward to interview people because I wouldn't know what to ask. It seems in our family, unless you are grandma, you don't talk about things that are on your mind or difficult topics.
I wish I knew your mom. I ask grandma and grandpa about your mom trying to know more about our family and the joys and pains. These pains still seem to be there. there are stories both good and bad and I wish I knew them so I could share them with you and your sister.
I know that my parents know stories and I will try to get them to tell you but I don't know how to go about this because it is definitely not a conversation starter.
If there is anyway at all that I can be of help to you, let me know. Love Nick.

Anonymous said...

Wow. Thank you for linking to this, Ally. I cannot imagine the confusion and anger you must have felt.

You wrote this perfectly, as always.