My Catholic Name
Call me small, petite, skinny and/or tiny as these names have aired
during my life on repeat. I wonder if my size is just coincidence
or predetermined to be dispensed because my first name came
from my paternal great-grandmother who was likewise ‘condensed.’
Born in 1857, she died in 1952, years before Mama was in Dad’s view.
I know she liked to be barefoot most of the time, bore nine children
who all thrived, loved to fish which she did to feed them in their
farm-poor, struggling existence. Her entire life was spent in one of
America’s most southern states, just like my maternal
great-grandmother from whom my middle name came. Though her
portrait adorns my home, I only know she bore four children without
a ripple and lived a long life in a middle-class vision as toned by her
unrelenting depression.
These two women seeded my future existence. They share a divine
tapestry with me and surely some features of their physical, mental
or emotional traits are visible in me, in addition to the 'tiny' gene.
I also feel them when I watch a movie containing nuns because
my combined names will belong to one, every time; Sister Mary
Catherine
This amuses me because all branches on my family tree have long
bloomed protestant leaves.
...CayCay aka Mary Catherine
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