An Example of Insanity

My mother was raised by her Grandparents because her mother was not mentally stable and could not care for her. I never really questioned my mother about what was wrong with her mother, or what happened to her father. I had never known my Grandfather and seldom visited any of my relatives. I never met her Grandparents and she didn’t talk about them. Ever.

At my mothers funeral 15 years ago, one of my cousins told me what had happened to my Grandmother and my Grandfather, and I understood why my mother was not raised by them…

My Great-grandparents were fairly well off. My Great-grandfather designed and built bridges in Ohio. They were some-what social and wanted the best for their only daughter, Margaret. Apparently when my Grandmother was quite young she fell in love with a man that had no money – strike 1, didn’t come from a high-class family – strike 2, and was not liked AT ALL by her parents – strike 3. When she told her parents that she was pregnant, things could not have gone worse.

Margaret’s parents were livid. They did not want her marrying that man. They did not want him in their family. And they paid him to leave and never come back. He took the money and nobody heard from him again… nice don’t you think? Well, my mother went a little nuts and never recovered. She was institutionalized after my mother was born and was never ever normal.

My family is THAT insane. Seriously.