I wanted to get away from my mother and all of the refinement, the stifling propriety, even the femininity of her world. Mother hadn't actually come from money, but had a great lineage, old WASP New York for generations in the same schools and clubs but without the flash and glamour of the nouveau-riche.
She'd gone to Spence then Barnard for two years as a day student, living at home in the family's crumbling apartment on Park. Once Mother married into Dad's clan, she became more traditional than ever. She finally had real money and stability. At Spence, I'd dropped acid and smoked dope like all of the other girls, but ultimately, I knew that we were all going to end in the same place, back on Park, as neighbors with children and dogs and husbands that we never saw or maybe even knew except for around the time of our weddings.
That's why I ran away with Sean. I imagined living in a great London 2 flat, converted to family and public space, with Sean's clients and artists always about. With two international sons, who'd feel as comfortable in Rome as they did in New York. But Sean was a "comer" and left me high and dry in the Chelsea house after he had worked all of my father's business contacts and sold them art.
It being London, I found some marijuana and was high for about a week until Mother came over from New York to take charge of things.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I know this was written as backstory for Martha, but what's so terrific about it is how it tells us her whole story in these few graphs. I especially love how we circle back to Martha's mother, coming to London to save the daughter who tried to run away from her.
ReplyDelete