A Hundred Years Since

Mom, aka Carol Jane "Angel" Martindale Tompsett Warriner Young was born on October 31, 1921. It has been 100 years since her blueprint was laid out and put into flesh and blood, 100 years since her creation which resulted in the family members who read this blog. Even those of us who are not "true blood" were affected by her being. If not for her, we would be members of other families, with different memories and different life stories. When she chose to add us to the family,  we became an inescapable part of it forever. 

 Mom was a force to be reckoned with. She was a paradox. She was loved as well as feared. She was also to be pitied, because in her quest to be idolized and adored, she drove nearly all her children away. I have spent many decades sorting out the good and bad memories, as well as the mixed feelings that I still have for her. I no longer wish to never have been adopted into the family, because I know that everyone is assigned to a life experience before birth, and the test is to see how one deals with the hand they are dealt.

Mom's impact on all of us was profound and continues even now.  When she splashed onto the planet she created a ripple that has grown and spread.  Those who are currently navigating the ripple may not know how it started.  This blog was started so that everyone who came after Mom can learn some clues about it. 

I wish I knew what made Mom the way she was. In 1986, after Mom passed away, I tried to get some of my questions answered. No one knew Mom's early years better than her older sister Amy. Unfortunately, Aunt Amy was in the beginning stages of dementia when I contacted her with some "why" questions. Either she could no longer remember, or her old-fashioned sensibilities dictated her short answer to me: "It is all over with now. There is no use bringing up the past." I don't subscribe to that way of thinking. 

History repeats itself if you don't know what happened and why it happened. Knowing your history allows you to deal with mysterious fallout that blankets not only you but also future generations of descendants. Some of the future articles will be quite short, as I will be sharing whatever memory pops into my head. Other articles will explore the final days of her life.