On Being Glamorous
In which my mother's fantasy persona is held up for all to appreciate
[My two older half-sisters] grew up in Minneapolis with their quite fragile mother, but spent summers in Los Angeles with their brand-spanking-new stepmother, and infant sister, i.e. me. Nancy is ten years older than me, Judy, six. Much later they told me that, at least at the beginning, their arrival in Los Angeles for the summer was by far the best moment of their year. The glittering L.A. life was completely unlike their Minneapolis existence, and for the first week or so, everything was happy-happy. Then the anger, judgment, and unrelenting disappointment began to creep out.
On one of her last summer visits to Los Angeles, at 15, Nancy got off the plane from Minneapolis “fat,” according to my mother.
“Oh dear, what’s happened to you?! Well, Miss Nanny B, we’re just going to fix you this summer!”
With a singular desire to help Nancy escape this “fate-worse-than-death,” my mother set out on a summer-long campaign to help Nancy lose weight. The road to hell being paved with good intentions, my mother studied up on calories and weight loss, and over the course of two months, Nancy shed many pounds.
But my mother could never understand why Nancy was not more grateful for her efforts. After that summer, Nancy radically distanced herself from the woman who would remain officially her stepmother for another twenty years.
When MLB related this story to me many years later—still slightly perplexed and even a bit hurt—I offered up this insight: “I think girls that age have a very hard time with self-confidence. Maybe she felt judged, and less attractive than you, her glamorous stepmom, and by drawing attention to her weight, you made her feel even more insecure.”
“Well, I couldn’t help it. I was evidently more attractive than Nancy.”
(Excerpted from Rottenkid: A Succulent Story of Survival, out on March 5)
Four Tidbits For February 23
Brigit’s What I’m
DOING NOW ➡️ Reading "Mr Jimmy From Around the Way," by my new author friend Jeffrey Blount — SO moving! CURRENTLY LOVING ➡️ My grilled eggplant Parmigiana: all the flavor with one-quarter of the oil. THINKING ABOUT ➡️ The Rottenkid Book Trailer just dropped! LISTENING TO ➡️ The Rottenkid Playlist on Spotify; pretend you're in L.A. circa 1975.