
So many pieces were sifting around inside Alice’s mind, reforming the mental picture of her life. Suddenly, so much made sense. Like the comments Grandma Hatcher made at each family get together about her mom and dad trading in degrees for diapers; or why Alice’s parents had had to pay for their own wedding: or how she was adamant about Alice finishing college before getting married and starting a family. There’s time enough for all of that. You keep your nose in those books and your pants zipped. Boys like brains and beauty, she would joke. Alice had always assumed she was just eager to see her oldest grandchild be the first one in the family to graduate from college.
Now the truth was obvious, Grandma Hatcher wanted Alice to have the life she thought her daughter should have had. That’s why she filled her head with stories, and questions, and dreams bigger than the sky, and why she had such a strained relationship with Gwen Ann. Grandma Hatcher was the one that encouraged Alice to apply for veterinary school and even paid for most of her tuition. She and Alice had a way with animals. Gwen Ann must have hated that her mom not only bonded with Alice in a way she never had, but also paid for Alice’s education when she had refused to pay for her own daughter’s wedding all those years ago.
Alice stood in front of her mom slack jawed with the instant realization that both of these women had been living vicariously through her for her entire life. It explained why her mom was desperately disappointed in Alice’s single status and why she was so obsessed with recreating this event in her life. Forty years later, Gwen Ann was ready to unhitch the double-wide trailer she drug behind her, full of guilt and disappointment.
Alice wasn’t sure if she should feel sorry for her mom and Grandma, or angry she had been manipulated for so long. She felt an unsettling awareness that every major decision she had made up until this point, was a direct result of their influence, and she found herself wondering if she would have been the one trying on dresses if she had chosen a path they had not paved for her.
She had so many questions and wanted to stay livid, but as Gwen Ann twirled like a giddy new bride, Alice saw her eccentric mom in a whole new light.
Check back tomorrow for the exciting conclusion to "Just Alice".
Now the truth was obvious, Grandma Hatcher wanted Alice to have the life she thought her daughter should have had. That’s why she filled her head with stories, and questions, and dreams bigger than the sky, and why she had such a strained relationship with Gwen Ann. Grandma Hatcher was the one that encouraged Alice to apply for veterinary school and even paid for most of her tuition. She and Alice had a way with animals. Gwen Ann must have hated that her mom not only bonded with Alice in a way she never had, but also paid for Alice’s education when she had refused to pay for her own daughter’s wedding all those years ago.
Alice stood in front of her mom slack jawed with the instant realization that both of these women had been living vicariously through her for her entire life. It explained why her mom was desperately disappointed in Alice’s single status and why she was so obsessed with recreating this event in her life. Forty years later, Gwen Ann was ready to unhitch the double-wide trailer she drug behind her, full of guilt and disappointment.
Alice wasn’t sure if she should feel sorry for her mom and Grandma, or angry she had been manipulated for so long. She felt an unsettling awareness that every major decision she had made up until this point, was a direct result of their influence, and she found herself wondering if she would have been the one trying on dresses if she had chosen a path they had not paved for her.
She had so many questions and wanted to stay livid, but as Gwen Ann twirled like a giddy new bride, Alice saw her eccentric mom in a whole new light.
Check back tomorrow for the exciting conclusion to "Just Alice".