Thinking about ladies of the past

I've just been reading an account of Varina Davis' life. It got me to thinking about the lives of women who have gone before us. Their lives couldn't have been different from ours. As a southerner, I feel very close to the women who went before me and the trials they had during the Civil War and afterwards in reconstruction. Can you imagine having the war right around you, threatening your children and you home, making it almost impossible to get enough to eat?

That combined with the thought of raiding soldiers taking what they wanted whenever they could? I don't think the War Between the States marked the citizens living north of the Mason-Dixon line as it did here. The war impoverished the South for many years making Reconstruction even more stifling. It would be nearly a century until the south began to rise above it's poverty and become financially stable.

Back to the present ... I have decided that my mother would be better off at an assisted living facility. As you know, we visited one last week and it was very nice. My husband and I have been talking about it to her and she seems content to move. I know it's not the thing she really wants. Who does? But, there are lots of activities, someone to watch over her to keep her safe and more importantly, people her own age to talk to. A couple of nights ago, she was watching TV and waiting for me to complete dinner. All of a sudden, she laid her head back with a long sigh. I asked her what was the matter and if she was bored and she said "yes". That was the first time she ever indicated to me that she was unhappy with her life.

So we will move forward. More later.