The woman in the photo above was my mother. This picture was taken on her 40th birthday in 1972. She died yesterday. Ma was 79 years old. As you can see, she was petite. Ma stood about 5'3". After struggling for ten years to lose the baby weight from having kids, she made sure she never weighed more than 130 pounds.
The photo above was taken on Christmas Day of 1973, three years after she gave the kids a short boxing lesson to help us ward off being picked on at school. I'm the kid on the left showing all of my teeth. My late younger sister is in the middle, and my late youngest brother is the boy on the right. I have touched on the fact that Ma and I didn't get along. But I have to give her credit for teaching us how to fight.
Ma was a little woman, but she packed a very hard punch. Unlike today's kids, my siblings and I, our cousins, kids in the neighborhood, our schoolmates, and most kids in general got spankings when we got out of line. Believe me, it was better when she came at me with a belt or her shoe than with her fists. I've knocked a couple of people out during sparring with my right hand. But I still don't believe that my right is as potent as Ma's right hand was. I've got to practice more to get up to her level.
No comments:
Post a Comment