In yesterday’s post, I mentioned a personality quirk, specifically, my OCD. This is – of course (how could it not be?) – my dear mother’s fault. Totally! The crazy compulsion to make my bed everyday? Yep, that’s my mom. Just about the time I started walking, she was already training me to smooth out the wrinkles and plump up the pillows on my youth bed. It only went downhill from there.
My mother attended boarding school from the age of six. This was in the 1930s and the first things she learned were: to do as she was told, to follow the rules, to conform and to be a good girl. I think the cottage shown above was home for eight to twelve girls plus a house mother. (This may not have been her actual home, but hers would have been nearly identical.) There were multiple other cottages housing other groups of girls on the property. The girls lived there year-round and attended school on the property, visiting relatives for only a week or two in August and December. Continue reading “Blame Where Blame Is Due”