I NEVER KNEW HER! (But I Loved Her.)

Sister-in-Law

 No, it is not Angela Davis! And no, she is not a famous eclectic singer. Her claim to fame is not what she did but what was done to her. We shall address her as "Lady" for anonymity and privacy. My Sister-In-Law, Lady was not the most beautiful girl in her family, (but you could not have told her that), nor was she the most intelligent of all the sisters born in her rather large, southern family. Lady grew up in a peculiar time and place where old-school ideology met new-school liberalism. (The scars on her back reflected the anger and misguided love of those entrusted with her care and upbringing!) Had she been born on the West Coast, under a more structured and caring parental regime, Lady might have been a scholar or a famous activist for her people and their cause, but life had other plans for Lady!

Abuse to her was synonymous with love and eventually became the only language she understood. It shaped and guided her choice of men, and permeated her corrupted sense of social and relational order. If she was not being assaulted by her mate, it did not quite feel like love to her. Lady's scars transcended the visible extension cord lacerations that decorated her lithe, feminine frame. Like a slave master reprimanding her property, Lady's cruel caregiver imbued each painful lesson with a foul interpretation of love and caring, that was seared into her brain like a hot-iron brand! With child-rearing abuse such as this, Lady had no chance. Her life choices were already made for her by a vicious and jealous aunt, who was given a free hand in the discipline and edification of an innocent young lady. (Take pleasure in knowing that this foul aunt was harshly, and justly dealt with later in life, by her own offspring. The debt was fatally repaid, but not in time to save Lady from her own fate.)

The one thing that Lady did in a stellar fashion, was to give birth to, and raise a loving, intelligent daughter who took her mother's place! This fine, upstanding young lady, (who we will call "Sweetie"), assumed the role of mother and big sister to her wayward siblings and made something exemplary of herself. When Lady's questionable medical care led to her untimely demise, Sweetie rose to the occasion and managed the unstable affairs of her household, (with the loving aid of her auntie, CMB). Sweetie, now the matriarch of her little family, reinvented herself in a way her mother was never permitted to. Sweetie is an "exclamation mark" that punctuates Lady's undying legacy. We love you, Sweetie, and will always support your efforts from afar. Auntie and uncle applaud you, Baby!

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