My Mother

When my father died,  my mother convinced my father’s bosses to give her his job as a furniture salesman.  It was in 1941!  No question, she managed her own big break.  Thus,  she became a woman in a man’s world.  The war years were slow, but she was in place to profit from the post war boom.

She had little education but had what we now call “street smarts.”  Maybe she profited from her customers and colleagues seeing her as “the young widow” but she knew how to handle them and many became her friends.  She invested wisely in stock and knew about IBM early on.

My mother enjoyed all of the trappings of success.  She paid close attention to her hair, makeup and wardrobe.  Her purchases were always top of the line. She loved it that she could afford a new Cadillac whenever she decided it was time.

There were many dark days ahead for her in her very long life but she had her wits about her until the very end.

I wrote this a few years ago in a series of stories about my family.