Mama's Unusual Way of Coping

It was definitely different ...

When my five siblings and I were children and any of us got hurt, Mama’s initial reaction was very different from other mothers.  It may have even seemed weird to some people. But it’s just how Mama coped when someone she loved got hurt.

Mama did this one thing where she had to collect herself first and then she took charge of the situation and was fine. We understood, because we knew how much she loved us —it was just how it affected her.

When my youngest sister was five, she was riding her pogo stick up and down the sidewalk in front of the house. Suddenly, the pogo stick went off the sidewalk and into the grass, stopping it immediately. She came down hard on her chin and tore the inside of her lower lip and gums just beneath her teeth. With blood trickling down her chin, she came running inside, crying.

Mama took one look at her, saw the blood, felt her pain, and ran out the back door to the alley. Once she collected herself, probably 30 seconds, she came back inside and expertly handled the situation.

Another time, Mama had just washed and waxed the kitchen floor. My youngest brother came home from school, kicked his shoes off at the front door, and ran to the kitchen, sliding across the floor as usual. This time, though, he couldn’t stop and he collided with the doorknob on the back door. A huge goose egg was growing on his forehead.

He called for Mama, and as I got the ice from the fridge to wrap in a wet kitchen towel, Mama flew in the back door from her trip to the alley, took control of the situation, and I went back upstairs to my homework.

Now, if Mama was the one who was hurt, there was a totally different reaction. 

I remember one night when I was a senior in high school.  My cousin, Bill, also my age, lived with us.  We were both doing our homework in our rooms. The younger kids were all in bed asleep and Daddy was working second shift at the steel mill where he was a foreman.

Mama was upstairs using her sewing machine when her hand slipped and the needle instantly went through her finger and fingernail. She stopped the machine, unscrewed the needle, and called to Bill and me, “Cathy, you’ll have to babysit for a little while.  Bill, would you please walk me over to the emergency room?” (We lived a block from the hospital).

She very calmly held her index finger up so we could see.  The sewing machine needle had gone all the way through her finger and it was sticking out on both sides, including her fingernail.

All of us were used to Mama’s responses. They weren’t strange to us at all. I can’t say the same for our neighbors, who I’m sure noticed Mama occasionally run to the alley, bend over and then run back inside our house. I’m sure they were left scratching their heads …

Poet/Writer/Author of 5 books.
Quora Top Writer 2018.
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