Family | Randy Susan Meyers

The Bobbsey Twins, Anomie, Schadenfreude, and Growing up in Brooklyn

September 9, 2012September 9, 2012 by Randy Susan Meyers

I suppose they were meant to teach me reading skills. And the goodness of clean living. But what The Bobbsey Twins taught me was needle sharp envy. Freddie and Flossie Bobbsey’s adventures are the first books I remember reading. Their stories educated me about a world from which I was deeply, meanly, forever locked out. … Read more

Writing the Motherhood Uglies

August 23, 2012August 22, 2012 by Randy Susan Meyers

“At work, you think of the children you have left at home. At home, you think of the work you’ve left unfinished. Such a struggle is unleashed within yourself. Your heart is rent.” — Golda Meir I suspect that it’s easier to find authentic novels about the difficulty of being a daughter or son than down-and-dirty … Read more

In Her Wake: When Our Parents Define Us

May 14, 2012September 6, 2011 by Randy Susan Meyers

“The day my mother killed herself, she had just finished preparing her house on Marlborough Street for the anticipated return of her children after a fierce custody battle with my father. There were six of us and much to do.” I tend to read very fast, often too fast. While reading In Her Wake I … Read more

IMPERFECT ENDINGS

August 30, 2015August 30, 2011 by Randy Susan Meyers

Seven years ago my mother called my sister and me to tell us she had cancer. The doctor gave her less than a year to live. Despite years of complicated mother-daughter relationships, we turned our lives around in moments and flew down from New York and Boston to be with her.

Our mother had never been one to bear up under pain and she dreaded the idea of being dependent. Hours after we arrived in Florida, she made us promise to kill her when “it became too much.”

When we tried to talk rationally—using words like illegal and jail—she gave us the same demanding glare we’d known since childhood.

You have to help me, she insisted. You girls know I can’t stand pain. Promise! Promise me now!

We, of course, promised. My sister and I had never been able to withstand the glare, and

Kind or Cruel: What Kind of Parent Are You?

May 14, 2012January 26, 2011 by Randy Susan Meyers

Belts being made into threatening weapons — that’s one of the clearest childhood memories. Being called “Hitela” (for Hitler) was my mother’s way of reminding me how awful she thought my bangs were. That’s another remembrance in my top 10. Do I think that my mother would want those to be my memories? Absolutely not. … Read more