2024-12-17 “Mothers” by Emma (born 1861)

I’m so worked up right now I don’t even know what to say, so I’ll just tell what happened.

We got back from meeting the lawyers and the other Emma asked if I wanted to go walk on the beach. ‘Course I said yes.

“When we started getting your memories a few weeks ago, I found out about your Instagram,” she said. “Naturally, the more I looked, the more of your memories I recovered.”

I said I was surprised she looked at it. She said it helped her learn a lot.

“Emma,” she said, “we didn’t have an easy time growing up. My mom died during COVID so you don’t have a mom now. And your mom ‘xpected you’d marry and move out, so she backed off when you were still young.”

I nodded.

She went on. “The Emma from 1965… her mother died, too. Me… There I was…19 years old in ‘84… no one to look to…”

I said, “Well, looks like you did okay.”

“I guess…” She smiled real sweet. “But it would have been easier if… I’d have had someone… with more experience. Emma, I know I’m too old to be your mom and too young to be your grandma… but…”

I smiled.

She went on. “I’d be so happy if we could stay in touch. I could… talk to you about things when they come up…”

I said, “I’d like that so much… I… Well, it has been hard.”

“I know… You had a rough start landing in 2024… skipping 144 years… Miami was a shock… Bikinis!”

I laughed. “I got ‘customed to it. Nobody seemed to notice or care.”

“Still,” she said, “it was a big adjustment for you.”

I said it was an’ we talked about everything from hot water to elevators, then I said, “If we stay in touch, I’m sure I can still learn a lot. Not just about going to college, but being a woman.”

“College…” Emma said. “Well, since you brought it up… Something… on my mind…”

I waited but she seemed hesitant to go on. “What? Please tell me.” “Emma, you’re going on 20. Your body is about to fill out more… At college if you want to make the right impression… Well, you need to think about your girls there… Jigglin’ into class prob’ly isn’t the impression you want to make…” I felt embarrassed ‘cause she was talking about me not wearing a bra. She smiled and went on. “Now… you can see looking at me you’ll never be big-chested… but jigglin’ around in certain situations won’t be proper.” “I guess I should’ve thought about this. Hannah… when she dresses for work…” “You’ll have to figure out about when you are around the house or even maybe a day at the park with friends, but if you ask me, out in public… And, also, I’m not saying it’s bad. Just not what people expect.” “Proper…” I understood. “I had a lot of adjusting, too. At your age, I didn’t need much… support either.” she said to me. “Living in the wilderness… 19… no mother… But, we’d go into town on breaks and I could feel people staring. 1984 Isn’t like 2024. I wasn’t expecting to be judged for being… natural.” “Did anyone say anything?” She nodded. “Eventually, Addison brought it up. We were in the woods most of the time. I guess we compromised on some modestly from time to time, but the motives were innocent.” Well, we talked on about things like that for a long time. I asked her about being married to Merritt. She said she had always been happy, but she didn’t want to say me and my Merritt should marry just because of her and hers. I said based on how I felt now, I hoped it would happen. “We took our time,” she said. “I guess I would have wanted it sooner, but coming from 1880, he was hesitant. Everything was so different for him. For all of them. We took our time.” It was wonderful. I sure didn’t expect anything like that, but it was really nice. And, of course, we promised we’d call and text frequently. I know she’s not gonna be my mother, but she knows what it’s like not to have one, same as me. And, I sure do think I have a lot to learn about being a grown-up woman. And I think she’s gonna be a good teacher.