Georgia on My Mind, Too

The Georgia on tempusfugit's mind was Georgia O'Keefe; for me, it was the state where I was born. My family moved from a small coastal town there to New Jersey when I was four years old. I have no memories of my first home, other than those of familiar photos and a few stories my mother told me, like the time a baby alligator took refuge on our back porch during a hurricane.

My Missouri-born father had a daughter from an early first marriage, and he and my mother, who was 13 years younger his junior, had three daughters. I was the oldest of the trio. He always longed for a son; it's a shame my father never saw his three fine grandsons.

My mother, born and raised in southwest Virginia, set high standards for us and provided consistency and stability, in contrast to our father's episodic mood swings and drinking binges. She loved reading and gardening, and I inherited an affinity for both of those activities.

Just before I turned two, my sister E was born; her early months were stressful for all of us, as she had feeding problems. My father may have had one of his "episodes" during that time, as well - there is so much that I wish I'd asked my mother about.

By the time I was about three, I think I must have been aware of the adult tensions in our household, and, like kendallishere, "I tried to be very good, to cause no trouble, to stay clean and be invisible."

I still try to be reasonably good and clean, and not cause trouble, but I'm definitely not invisible anymore!