Poor Clyde

My mom's mom was about as unique as any person I ever met. She was born on Christmas day and married on Christmas day. She died on July 4th. I think she enjoyed being different.

We called her Mama Mabel.

When I was in high school she moved up to Reynolds from Fort Myers Florida so Mama could look after her. She bought a mobile home and they put it in my parents back yard. She lived there until she died. As you can imagine, she became a major part of my life. I saw her every day.

I thought about her a lot during the Big Streak of 74. Almost felt guilty. I don’t think she would have appreciated the fact that University of Georgia students were breaking the United States record for nakedness. She surely would not have appreciated the fact that her grandson contributed to the breaking of the record.

She told us that she had never seen herself naked.

She wasn’t kidding either. There just can’t be a lot of people in the world who have never seen themselves naked.

Mama Mabel hated for us to ask her questions about that, but as you could imagine, we did anyway.

How in the world does a person go through life without seeing their own naked body?

She thought it was immoral to do so.

We asked her what in the world she did when she took a bath.

Her emphatic answer: “I don’t look.”

She even said her husband had never seen her nude. Lights out on whoopee night in the Gonzalez house.

They did have two children but obviously poor Clyde had to feel his way around during the conception ceremony.

Being pregnant on two different occasions, I would assume her tummy got bigger. But she never used the word “pregnant.” That was a very bad word. I’m not sure what she called it…but she didn’t call it pregnant.

Mama Mabel died after living a long life. She had certain standards and she lived by them. To tell you the truth, I really loved her for that. She sure didn't lose any sleep over the fact that we thought it rather unusual for someone to never see their own naked body. Mama Mabel always said exactly what she thought and could care less if you liked it or didn’t like it.

You never had to wonder what she was thinking.

But I sure did wonder what Clyde was must have been thinking.