Melissa+1968

http://www.dipity.com/mloconno/1968/#timeline

Dear Noah,

You turned eight years old this year and as the world around you began to change, I watched you become more aware and intuitive of your surroundings. In January we watched the Apollo 5 launch into outer space! You clung to the arm of the couch, pretending you were in the spacecraft with your fellow astronaut crew! For weeks afterward, everything was about outer space, space travel, and aliens. I would come into your room to find you hidden under blanket-forts, preparing for take-off! A new novel, //2001: A Space Odyssey//, was published, and though you were too young to read it on your own, you insisted that we purchase it as a bed-time story! Two brand new albums were released this year, and some of my fondest memories are of us singing together. Aretha Franklin’s “Lady Soul” album was released in January, and boy, did we belt our hearts out to “Chain of Fools”! Oh, how I loved driving you to school in the morning and listening to her on the radio. I just know that this song will be famous years from now. The BeeGee’s also released their //Horizon// album in February. This album is so different from their previous work, and throughout the year we would have it playing in the living room while we did chores and talked about our day. Music has been a great way to get to know you and for us to grow in our relationship together as mother and son! April through June were very difficult times for us as Americans. There were so many violent events that occurred. Growing up in a predominantly white community, it was difficult to explain the assassination of Martin Luther King Junior to you. Until this moment, you were an innocent child, unaware of the social injustices in our country. I remember you saying, “Wow! A king? He must have been really important”. And son, he was very important, not only to the African American community, but in the lives of many other American’s as well. After his assassination, riots erupted in major cities all over the country. There was daily news covering, and it became difficult to hide the truths of our society from you. I watched you challenge the ways of society, and we shared many in depth talks about the way the world //should// be. In June, Andy Warhol was attacked in his studio. You knew who he is, because of an art book on the coffee table. This incident, however, was overshadowed by the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, just two days later. It seemed that I would forever be forced to expose you to the violence in our world. Soon after, in July, another controversy arose in the homosexual community. The term “Gay is Good,” was coined by one of the GLBT community’s activists. Though I, myself, was still becoming open to the diversity of this group, I withheld my own opinions and we returned to our conversations about peace. I was so proud to see you make connections between Martin Luther King Jr’s life and assassination, to this issue as well. You helped me to overcome some biases I had, and to understand that it is unjust to oppress groups different from myself. In mid-July, the first Special Olympics took place in Chicago. Though we did not travel to Chicago, due to fears of more riots, we learned about the games on T.V. and through the newspaper. You were so inspired to see the success of one woman’s actions, and how it empowered an entire group of people. I just know that one day you, too, will have a lasting impact! Around Christmas time a new television special, //The Little Drummer Boy//, came out. You stayed glued to the T.V., and even now, a week into the new year, I still hear you humming the lyrics around the house. I am so proud of the person you have become this year!

Love Always, Mom

//I decided to write my narrative from a mother to son, after hearing from a friend (whose mom had passed) that one of her favorite things about her mother, was that every time a major event occurred in her life, her mom wrote a note about it. After her mom had passed, my friend found a box full of letters that her mom had been saving to give her after the birth of her first born child.//