When I write, I fall in love with my heroes, I admire my
heroines, and I try to humanize my villains. But the characters I have the most
fun creating are the moms.
I had a terrific relationship with my mom, lost her far too
many years ago, and have often wished I could be more like her as a parent. My
mama was southern born and bred although she lost most of her thick southern
drawl after living in NYC all of her married life, when she was upset, the
SOUTHERN really came out. Which was really funny because my dad was Puerto
Rican and spoke English at home except when he got mad, then he reverted to
Spanish. If my folks had a dispute, I felt like I was being raised by Ricky
Ricardo and Scarlett O’Hara.
But I digress…
When I write a mom into my stories she can be overprotective
and manipulative, comical, almost always loving, sometimes pushy, usually young
at heart, often opinionated and almost always adored by her offspring. In my
latest WIP, the mom isn’t all that flattering, although she adores her son she
is kind of a be-yotch to her daughter-in-law. None of the top TV moms have
anything on my character moms.
My favorite mom in my novels has always been Sylvia Hughes
from “His Lucky Charm” and “Within the Law”. Cousins Caitlyn Smythe and Tom
Hughes were raised by Sylvia who Caitlyn calls Aunt Syl. Sylvia is loving and
sometimes a little too involved in her kids’ lives. (and yes, she often uses
the colloquialism “kids”, she’s just very down to earth.)
In this brief excerpt from “His Lucky Charm” Sylvia expresses
concern for her son, his lost love and his solitary lifestyle:
“Tommy, you are a young man.” Sylvia continued. “You
should not live alone.”
“Ma... please.” Tom laid his fork down next to his
plate.
“You’re a good looking man.” She turned to
Caitlyn. “Isn’t he good looking?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“Brandon, you’re getting married. Isn’t it a nice
feeling to be settling down?”
“Ma! Stop it.” Tom stood up from the table. “I’ll
be back in a few minutes.” He left in a hurry. The back door slammed shut
behind him.
Sylvia looked at the rest of the family at the
table. “What did I say?” She looked at each of their faces. Caitlyn was
studying her plate. “What did I say?”
Walter shook his head and kept eating. “Sylvie,
you never learn. Leave the boy alone.”
“What? I’m not allowed to care about my kids?”
Caitlyn put her fork down on the table and leaned
over to hug Sylvia. “Aunt Syl, we love you. Tommy just needs to set his own
pace. It will happen. Don’t worry.”
Sylvia took Caitlyn’s face in her hands and looked
at her eyes. “I just want you two to be happy. That’s all I want.”
Caitlyn smiled. “I know.”
“You hear that Brandon?” Sylvia’s voice cracked. “You
better keep my baby happy.”
“Yes ma’am.” Brandon looked at Caitlyn and saw her
smile at him. “I plan to work at that for the rest of my life.”
“Good. Very good.” Sylvia nodded and went back to eating.
I
think Sylvia is a little bit like Kitty Foreman from “That 70’s Show”.
Some
years back I was told by my offspring that I am most like Rosanne Barr. I’m not
entirely sure that’s very complimentary, but they said it was. I’ve never been
very traditional, have never hesitated to embarrass my daughter and son, and
have always loved them fiercely. I’ll never be June Cleaver, or Donna Reed, Marion Cunningham or Clair Huxtable. At least they never claimed I should
star in “Mommy Dearest”.
How would you
describe yourself or your parents? Do you have a TV mom-type you may have been "raised" by?
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