Matilda…aka: Mattie…aka: Waltzing Matilda….the first born child…after a long, protracted labor…delivered by the local Stork Lady…there were no doctors in that back woods in those days.
Mrs. Mama looked at her new born and asked the Stork Lady…isn’t her face rather odd shaped, her head kinda pointy…..ah, yours’ would be too, if you were struggling in a birth canal for hours, struggling to breathe, the old Stork Lady sagely proclaimed.
Mattie ate…Mattie thrived… but in tiny increments…a pleasant wee bairnie… Not a wailer…but a little vacant and slow in comparison to other babies.
A year passed and the Stork Lady was back with her big black bag to deliver a 2nd Bundle of joy, a sister for Mattie who soon met and surpassed all the goal posts Mattie sought to achieve…. no doubt. Mrs. Mama kept the Stork Lady busy, as in rapid succession she was called back to deliver Baby 3 and Baby 4, both strong, healthy sons…and a few years later…a Surprise, Baby 5, a Sister for Mattie,rounded off the family.
Mattie watched her siblings closely, finally mastering walking when she was almost 3 years old…and at last started stringing a few recognizable words together, instead of senseless babble, in her 5th year.
When it was time to go to school, a worried Mrs. Mama, decided to keep her back a year and have her start with her Baby 2 Sister… but school wasn’t Mattie’s cup of tea… the teachers explained. There must be better life for Mattie.
The Wise Mrs. Mama asked Mattie, since she was the eldest, could she stay at home and help Mama with the pickling, the clearing of the dishes off the table, the pot scrubbing, the hanging the laundry on the line outside.
Mattie’s Bunny Family From Morguefile.com deemac1
Mattie was thrilled…what could be more rewarding than pleasing your Mama.
So Mattie went through the stages in life as a valued helper, dedicating her spare time to chasing butterflies, seeking out bunny families and whispering to the flowersin the back yard…sometimes dancing with invisible partners to music only they could hear, smiling and clapping and oh, so happy.
Don’t feel sorry for Mattie…Remember instead, her beloved Sister, Baby 2, died in childbirth,Baby 3, her brother’s life was surrendered to the Great War. Brother, Baby 4, returned from the war, a young man man, troubled by what he had seen and done. He drifted off, some say out West, others swear down South, never to be heard from again, but he’ll be back… so the Old Folks said. Mattie’s dear parents were taken to their Eternal Rest but she had a happy home with her Sister, Baby 5…
Waltzing Matilda From Morguefile.com mirrormirror.jp By kakisky
Sometimes, I understand, when the chores were done, you could see them, Mattie and Sister, Baby 5, arms entwined, twirl and waltz around the garden singing:
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda…You’ll come a Waltzing Matilda with me…And they sang as they danced in the garden green….”You’ll come a Waltzing Matilda with me.”(ParaphraseAndré Rieu)
If you don’t know us by now…You will never never never know us…All the things that we’ve been through….You should understand us, like we understand you…Now Momma, we know the difference between right and wrong…We always find our way back to our happy little home…
Jakita lays down the law to Momma
So don’t get so excited when we take off for the night…We never bite, growl or tangle with others..Because you brought us up right…If you don’t know us by now….You will never never never know us…We’ve all got our own funny moods…We’ve got ours, Momma, you’ve got yours too….Just trust in us, like we trust in you…As long as we’ve keep returning, it should be so easy to do…
If you don’t know us by now….You will never never never know us…(Parahrase Kenneth Gamble / Leon Huff)
Country folk…they like to laugh at you…not with you. Yet they weep with you when you are in pain, celebrate with you when your cup over floweth and live side by side with you as you achieve your right of passage through the LabyrinthofLife…well, mostly.
The highways and Bi-ways…in the Country
City folks are fine to be sure (LOL) and to be respected for all those tedious hours spent on the highways and byways of life…alone… as they fight the traffic to and fro their particular zoos, the Boss at work, the Big and Little Bosses at home and all of the complexities that accompany the Urban Jungle…Deep within, so many city hearts yearn for the Simple Life, where cows moo, roosters Cockle-Doodle-Doo and even Skunks don’t smell as rancid.
And so that is what led The-Boy-Next-Doorback to his roots….to the idyllic days of running through hay fields,swimming in the bay,fishing in the creek…away from the big, bad city, even if it meant moving back to the town where his Matriarch Mama lived…no denying, she was full-tilt… she totally amused yet dismayed the Country folk who had to breathe the same air as her, shop at the same stores, attend the same church…you get it…got it...
Matriarch Mama was hard-core-right-wing-no-nonsense serious….so serious the country folk swore they had never seen her smile…in her life…even as a baby, a toddler, a child, a teenager, an adult, not even as a Senior. Sure her life was tough….her husband died young and she had two young sons to raise… but she had a nice home, enough money to send her sons to University in the city….could have been worse….a lot worse… said the poor folk who sometimes scrambled for food to eat.
What the country folk hadn’t realized was Reality (as we know it) and The-Boy-Next-Door parted way, many moons ago, along the Sandbanks of Time. When he’d left for the City he’d had been quiet, kind of shy, said the Country folk….he’ll come out of his shell once he’s away from his Matriarch Mama……Well….Maybe or Not so much.
However The-Boy-Next-Door’seducation was impeccable and when he moved back to his roots, he was quickly hired as a Chartered Accountant for an international company that had recently moved to the area….much to the dismay of the country folk who believed Mama and Poppa Shops, where you knew the owner, their parents, their parents parents….chain of command and right of way….don’t trust these Conglomerates, said the country folk…they’ll break your heart when they pack up and leave (and holy smoke, some 30 years later they did just that).
Maybe the poor Boy-Next-Door needed more pals like these and less book learning.
So The-Boy-Next-Door had a plumb position…much responsibilty…his Matriarch Mamawas rightfully proud and boringly braggy….but as Momma says, the Country folk play the long game….wait for the other shoe to drop…time will tell.
Other locals who were hired by the company saw it coming….saw the cookie crumble…but there were only family doctors in the district…who had trouble diagnosing even pneumonia…mental health issues were way down the list of expertise…
First The-Boy-Next-Doorwhispered to himself, then talked to himself, then shouted at himself….then went silent….. some days. like a two-way radio, all chatter…some days all silence…until one fine bright Monday morning, he went to work, greeting everyone he saw with a big smile and a Good Morning…almost normal like. ….but he didn’t head to his office and take a seat….no he went straight CEO’s Office and told him…get up and get out….this is my job now….You’re fired(so ahead of his time…so Donald Trump and The Apprentice).
No, there was no gun involved. No, the CEO didn’t leave…he called Securityand The-Boy-Next-Door got a drive to the local hospital who arranged to have him sent to a City hospital who were better equipped to understand how a lifetime of stress and whatever is in your DNA can eat away at your brain, no matter how intelligent and middle class you may be.
Come back Boy-Next-Door. We’re waiting for you down at the Beach.
The-Boy-Next-Door never came back to live in the country…some people are just better suited to an Urban Environment… Sometimes the Country folk say…they feel…maybe if they had stepped in more when he was a kid….too late now…you know….but if only….
No, never forget where you come from…..Nor ever forget you are as your meant to be... Sometimes, it’s hard to be yourself in a small town…. Where people remember every thing they see….
When I met you…. You were scheming…. You didn’t care…What I’d be dreaming….Now I’ll be gone…. Life’s just too short…. To live by rules…. I just can’t sort…..The good guys…. From the bad no more…. I tried so hard…. It’s such a chore….To stick around…. A chick like you…. Who knows it all…. Swears by it too….
Hang On Humpty Dumpty
We know the races…. Started today…. Have finish lines…. Along the way….We complete the flight… We conquer all… We lose the prize…. Humpty Dumpty falls…
When I met you…. What did I know???? Love’s an illusion…. Take it and go….
