"Short Takes" #6

"The Mother" by Anne Panning

This piece is extremely honest, and I think that Panning is able to show us a vulnerable side of herself and still seem likable  She presents a situation unique to her, but I think that the feeling can translate to everyone. She talks about what it feels like to be a mother and how she eventually feels so sluggish and frumpy that she wants to "eat potato chips and watch reruns of Providence and cry" all the time. I think we've all had those moments where we want to forget our responsibilities and watch some trashy TV and eat all the junk food in the world, but she makes the scenario specific to her own life because she focuses on the motherhood aspect through a pair of glasses. 

Her glasses are out of date, and people used to compliment them. When she takes a trip to California for a wedding, she buys a new pair, apparently from Europe and of the latest trend. The trip leaves her half wishing she could live a fabulous life on the West Coast, but she also misses her son. When she returns, she looks at herself in the mirror at her son's play-gym. She doesn't recognize herself wearing the glasses and a fur coat, and she immediately feels out of place. That is not who she is, and she writes, "I am completely mismatched with my life..." I feel such a strong connection to that because as I try to figure out who I am and where I want my life to go, I often feel out of place and like a poseur. She realizes where her personality and values lay, and the piece makes me hopeful that one day I will, too, even if I have to feel "mismatched" first.


This week I also read:
"Two" by Steven Dunn