Once again I bring you a bit of undated prose from Mom’s collection. It’s handwritten on lined paper, with a teenager’s neat, round penmanship. Maybe it was a school assignment.

Nowadays they’re called “prompts.” For example: Write, in first person, about a conflict involving at least three other family members.

I wish I knew more about my great-grandmother’s personality. Maggie Kelly married Joseph Malachy Regan in Belfast in 1888 and then sailed for America. That tells us she was courageous. But I don’t know about her sense of humor.

If this essay from Mom is autobiographical, then I can guess Gram liked a bit of fun. Also, that she passed along her impishness to her youngest daughter, Cecelia, my grandma.

Here’s Mom’s essay:

The Revolution of Granny

Grandmother was feeling particularly impish that morning. She doused my uncle with the garden hose and pitched a washcloth point-blank, object, the cat. Then she looked herself over.

“You know,” she said, “I wonder whatever started me wearing black stockings.”

I stifled a roar. Who could imagine her in anything else!

“The only women I see with them on,” she continued, “are widows, most of them Italians.”

“But you wore them long before Pop died,” I ventured.

“I wonder,” Gram mused.

“They’re more aristocratic,” my aunt proclaimed.

“Foo,” the rebel cried. “When Mrs. Norton came over she wore light stockings.”

“Kids wore them years ago. Maybe that’s how you began,” I replied.

“That’s right,” Gram concluded.

I was suddenly downright proud of myself. I had, alone and unaided, thwarted a revolution. I was ready to go home.

” ‘Bye, Grandma,” I called.

But she paid no attention. She was staring savagely at a pair of black hosiery that dangled on the line outside.

~ Joan Cassidy circa 1945

Mom’s cousin Patty sent me a few “new” photos this week, which is thrilling. I’d never seen a photo of Gram and Pop Regan together before:

And, as you may have noticed, Gram is wearing black stockings.

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“The Revolution of Granny” © circa 1945 Joan Cassidy. All rights reserved.

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