Sunday, May 27, 2007

Grey Gardens.

My mother and grandmother are here this weekend. Together, I've begun referring to them as "Grey Gardens". (Used in a sentence: Grey Gardens just got back from Costa Rica.) I named them after the famous documentary for a few reasons. Obviously, they're a mother/daughter duo. The daughter is in her fifties, the mother in her eighties. Mom is also a "junior" so to speak, and thus she and my grandmother are referred to as "Little Louise" and "Big Louise", respectively, not unlike the Bouviers.

One of the main reasons for their new moniker is they also live together with several animals between them. They don't live in the same house, but in what is more of a compound, as their houses back up to one another. My friend said it reminded her of something she'd seen in South America. A family house, the grandmother living in an adjacent dwelling, and animals everywhere. Only the menagerie at Grey Gardens' compound consists of numerous cats and dogs, not cows and goats. (Though at night you can still hear cows in nearby pastures.)

Not unlike the Bouviers, my mom and grandmother bicker and fight all the time. Breaking into random song is also not uncommon, nor is reflecting on the glamorous days of yore. You also get the sense when speaking to my mom that a quick trip in a time machine might prove the past wasn't quite as enchanted as she recalls. Some of her stories are about as likely as Little Edie having ever dated J. Paul Getty.

Thankfully, there are a couple of key differences between the Louises and the Edies. For starters, the Louises don't live in absolute squalor. They'll never be inspected by the health department, and they don't sleep with raccoons. (Though part of me is saddened by that, as I'd love to watch people's reactions to my grandmother explaining that she's sleeping with a "coon", as she calls them.) Neither Louise would ever wear a head covering, so as not to mess up her 'do, and I'm fairly certain my mother has never fashioned a skirt out of a shirt.

Yes, there are differences. But there are enough similarities to warrant both the nickname and perhaps even their own documentary.

Now, THERE's an idea.

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