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Life is full of surprises and wild yam that you rub
on your arm was one, but I wouldn't tell my mother that because she always
has to be say things to shock and to be different. On purpose. And it
makes me crazy.
Last June, as we sat around the picnic table, family and friends gathered
for a birthday party, Kay asks Mom, "Do you still take the estrogen
with progesterone?" Mom answers by saying, "Black Cohosh, it's
a plant and wild Peruvian yam, you rub it on. Your body absorbs it. So
you rub it on… right here on your arm."Then she makes a rubbing
motion on her arm near the soft crease at the inside of her elbow.
There is a moment of silence.
There's frequently a moment of silence after my mother
speaks. I know she loves that silence. I know she's sitting there just
waiting for any one of us to ask, "What the hell is Black Cohosh?"
or, "Why the hell would you want to rub wild Sumatran yam on your
arm?" Then she can smile, just a little, but very knowing, smile.
Then she can go on to explain how it isn't Sumatran, it's Peruvian and
they are the things for hot flashes and night sweats, and for someone
like her who had a complete hysterectomy. I know she will delight in the
fact that she can go on to tell, again, how the doctor took all her female
parts and how she doesn't have sex any more. Not that she can't, just
that she doesn't seem to have the desire to. (Maybe if she rubbed herself
with eggplant or wild mango she would get her sex drive back.)
In the same vein of being different, Mom always has to know something
about everything. The conversation just after learning all about Black
Cohosh and wild Bavarian (yeah, yeah I know) yam goes like this.
Kay, "I like the succotash you made, Laura."
Angela, "Succotash, I wonder if that is an Indian word?"
Me, "I would think it is. It sounds a bit like Sacagawea. You know,
the Indian princess who traveled with Lewis and Clark."
Mom, "It is not Sack-a-ga-we-a, it is Sah-cog-we-a. We have been
mispronouncing it for years."
Moment of silence, Mom smiles, just a little smile.
This is no surprise.
Laura can be found on the web address below also.
http://www.angelfire.com/amiga/iecwc/index.html
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