My Mother Disliked Rosalynn Carter

I mean, she really, really disliked Rosalynn Carter.  It was a visceral thing.  Having nothing to do with politics.  I’m sure she voted for Jimmy, what with her being a life long Democrat.  She approved of him.  It was his wife she didn’t like.

It was a third-rail thing with her.  A land-mine.  You never knew what would kick it off but we knew it could get ugly.  We walked on eggshells as best we could, but the triggers were everywhere.  It didn’t take much to set her off.   Her sister, my Aunt Frances, repeatedly told my mother that since Rosalynn was our First Lady, she should just accept it and get over the whole thing. That never happened.

The factors for my mother’s strong anti-Rosalynn convictions were myriad: her hair, her clothes, the way she bossed Jimmy around.  There was always an available issue in which to wrap her wrath.  Many conversations at dinners, cocktail hours, breakfasts, and visits were devoted to Rosalynn.  And subsequently ruined, I might add.

Boy, oh boy, am I glad she’s not around to witness our country these days.  She’d have opinions. I’m not sure what they’d be but they would be fervent and fierce.  She’d hang on to them ‘til her last breath.   My mother was nothing if not certain.  Compromise was not part of her charm.

I wonder why I’m revisiting that time with my mother right now.  No, forget that.  I know exactly why.  I just wish it weren’t so.  

Roadsign drawing thanks to vecteezy.com

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