Mama said....

 

I have been asked to participate in  "Mama Said, Mama Said" a 90 minute story telling show, inspired by the national "Listen to Your Mother" movement. It will be presented at First Presbyterian Theater on May 8 and 9, 2026.  

Each participant has been asked to write a 300-500 word story or a poem about any experience connected to mothering.  Over the next few blogs, I will be writing some rough drafts.  Then I'll decide which one to submit.  Here's the first one.  Please feel free to let me know what you think. 

THE TRAIN RIDE        

I was born in December of 1944.  World War II was winding down in Europe.  My father, who was stationed in Brazil, would be coming home soon.

My Mom and Dad had met when he was an Army sergeant stationed at Aberdeen Proving Grounds near Havre de Grace, Maryland and she was studying to be a nurse at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. They were married in 1943.

My father was sent to Brazil before Mom knew I was on the way.  I was 10 months old when he came home. 

While my father was in Brazil, but soon to be discharged they decide (by airmail letters of course) to move to Fort Wayne, Indiana, near my father’s home town. 

Mom loaded up ten Army footlockers with all their worldly possessions.  With the help of several porters, she and I and all those footlockers boarded an overnight train from Baltimore to Fort Wayne. 

As it happened, the train-car we were in was full of soldiers going home.  All of them were so anxious to get home to their loved ones (and children they had never met) that, as Mom told it, they took turns holding me all night long.  A fine welcome to Fort Wayne.