“so what kind of man would keep his wife chained to a budget and then make a deduction when she toppled over one of his orchid plants? he deserved it that she left him!”
I simply replied although with a tinge of anger in my voice
“so what kind of mother would wrap her child up in a towel and leave him restrained on the bed while the rest of his four siblings rolled and rollicked around him in play?”
My mother turned a crimson red in the face
-Gary Edward Geraci
“Towel Boy” is an example of the confessional style poetry that I often write - risky but authentic. I did approach my mother about this recently. She still believes that she was using the correct technique, according to her, the only way she knew during those times, to correct a certain behavioral problem that she perceived that I was exhibiting. The towel and blanket wrapping went on for what seemed like many years and it affected my four siblings as well. To this day they are still sorry that this went on for so long. There are certainly worse things that happen to children and so no one, including me, will accuse my mom of not caring - rather, at worst, I think she was neurotically overprotective - perhaps a behavior acquired during her own upbringing - she grew up in a single parent household having to raise her sister with Down Syndrome. And so I doubt that she meant evil from it; regardless, God meant it for good. Yes, I regularly visit both my parents and here lately, I’ve witnessed my mother doing a remarkable job of caring for my father as his health continues to decline. They just celebrated their 58th wedding anniversary (2019). I pray that our merciful God will grant me the grace of complete and total forgiveness as this is what I beg of Him for my own and many wretched failings in this life.
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