https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/may-10-2025
'Those of us who are truly lucky have more than one mother. They are the cool
aunts, the elderly ladies, the family friends, even the mentors who whip us
into shape. By my count, I’ve had at least eight mothers. One of the most
important was Sally Adams Bascom Augenstern.
Mrs. A., a widow who had played cutthroat bridge with my grandmother in the
1950s, lived near my family in Maine in the summer. I began vacuuming and
weeding and painting for her when I was about 12, but it wasn't long before my
time at her house stopped being a job. She was bossy, demanding, sharp as a
tack...and funny and thoughtful, and she remembered most of the century. She
would sit in her rocking chair by the sunny window in the kitchen, shelling
peas and telling me stories while I washed the floor with a hand sponge to spin
out the time.
Sally (not Sarah) Bascom was born on December 25, 1903. (For folks in Maine
keeping score, that made her almost a full year older than Millard Robinson, a
fact she loathed.) She was the oldest of six children and spent her youth
taking care of the younger ones. When I once asked her what was the most
important historical event in her lifetime, this woman who had lived through
the Depression and both world wars answered without hesitation: "the washing
machine." It had freed her and her mother from constant laundry. She could
finally have some leisure time, which she spent listening to the radio and
driving in cars with boys. Because her mother always needed her at home, it was
not she, but all her younger siblings, who went to college. By the time Mrs. A.
was an adult, she was certain she wanted no part of motherhood.'
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
