Sex, Booze, and Politics

Did you ever 'google' your name? or the names of those around you? This morning, for some unknown reason I slipped my mother's name into the search box and up came a website about a book written by a person of the same name. This imposter (!) is young and lives in Australia. There are many references to her as she is an actor. The funniest part was the title of the article about her book: "In her memoir of student life, Alice Garner reveals that it wasn't all sex, booze and politics."

What a hook! Of course my husband commented that for my mother, whom he loved, those things were pretty important. Ha ha.

I see an explanation is needed: My mother birthed, raised, and loved thirteen children who were born over a period of 25 years. (This is the sex part, I guess.) Quite a commitment, wouldn't you say? And she just got better and better at being a mother, and, later, a dear friend.

Booze? Well, Mom suffered from arthritis from a fairly young age and lived with a lot of pain. Also after my Dad's heart attack he was encouraged to have a drink a day, as a blood thinner, I guess. The five o'clock pick-me-up was born out of these two things and their house became a great place to drop in and chat at pick-me-up time. We had some of our best conversations during those times and that is what we miss most about my parents being gone. We could always go there and talk out whatever was happening in our lives.

Now, the politics part. Mom and Dad were ardent, card-carrying liberals. Oops, that should definitely have a capital: Liberals! They worked tirelessly over many campaigns, sometimes getting their candidates elected, more often not succeeding in this predominantly Conservative riding. Then, in 1975, Mom was asked to be the Liberal candidate for our riding. For three weeks she stumped tirelessly--losing 15 pounds in the process--up and down the county talking to people. She loved it. I had a personal epiphany on the night she lost when I realized how fearless she was, how brave to face the negatives and push on. I thank her for what she taught me about doing what you believe in, no matter how hard it is.

So when I 'googled' her name, I would have liked there to be more on her than a reference to her burial place in North Embro Cemetery. She was so much more. And, by the way, she would have laughed uproariously about this other Aussie Alice Garner.