Slice of Americana

History tells of the main and important events in a society.  But, it is left to biography to record what is happening with people.  Here is a snapshot  of modern America capsulized by a family of 4 sisters.

Sister A was born to her mother when her mom was 18 and her father was 21.  Over the next 21 years, the father would drink alcohol to his heart's content and come home each day angry at his wife and kids.  Sister A knew nothing else than a father's wrath during her childhood.  Her mother was very young to begin with and had no clue how to deal with alcoholism.  So, she became very hardened as an individual after 21 years of living in the crucible of rage from a husband's alcoholism.  Sister A, then, knew nothing else than a mother's strict, and many times unreasonable, set of rules which the mother instigated as a coping mechanism not to have her children step out of line and rock the boat with their father.  Immediately upon leaving home, she lived a life of bar hopping and finding love in all the wrong places.  She married a young man who burned her with cigarettes and abused her in other ways.  They divorced within a year.  A couple of years later she remarried and remained committed to that husband.

Sister B was born 5 years later than her sister.  She also grew up in a house of rage and rules.  Behavior outside the rules was dealt with by harsh razor strap whippings of the father and hair brushes across the face by the mother.  Immediately upon leaving home, she went to college, decided to marry someone she thought was stable, finished college, and began a job.  But, she couldn't stay away from men who offered her a good time, and had more short and long affairs than the number of years of her marriage regardless of the anniversary year of her marriage.  Much of her adult life was spent in alcoholism too.

Sister C was born 5 years later than Sister B, 10 years behind Sister A.  In that decade, the interaction of the parents deteriorated further.  The mother was so consumed with coping with her own sanity that much of the time Sister C was able to do things against the rules without being caught.  She grew resentful of the home life and rebelled in many secretive ways against what was happening on the order of sneaking out to meet with friends and boyfriends.   Upon leaving home, she immediately married.  That marriage ended in divorce inside of  a year and a half.  A second marriage followed in a few months, only to end in divorce about 3 years later.  A live-in boyfriend filled the next 9 months or so.  Finally, she married a third time, deciding to commit to this marriage.

Sister D was born three years after Sister C.  By this time, conditions had begun to stabilize, only because the mother had found Alanon, but they were still poor for the 4 girls and the mother.  None of the daughters could feel free to invite friends over.  Sister D felt very isolated and overlooked by her mother.  She noticed all the rules and rage and their effects on her 3 older sisters.  She became shy and extremely withdrawn.  The few friends she had were also withdrawn from their own family situations.  Upon  leaving home, she completed three years of college and married her junior year because she thought she was pregnant.  She remained married to her husband, but had a hard time keeping a job because she would go through a cycle of finding a job, working for a few months, becoming disenchanted with it, then quitting.  She went through about 10 jobs the same way.


All of the sisters have 3 common characteristics that are manifested from their upbringing.  In the realm of general communication, they have to consciously decide that they will communicate with friends, coworkers, and in particular, each other.  They will delay or ignore answering a call, text, email, or Facebook message until they are mentally ready to continue the communication.  The socialization process for communication had apparently been  disrupted.

A second characteristic is their way of dealing with matters of time, such as schedules and deadlines. Family holiday gatherings posed particular problems.  Sister A decided to walk in late to most events.  Sister B has to "psyche up" before attending events.  Sister B decided to limit the number of events she attends and mostly stays at home.  Sister D will only attend events on her own terms or in her own timing, frequently attending events only under certain conditions or by showing up an hour after it was scheduled to start.  She prefers to be wholly spontaneous in life.

And finally, depression touches each of the sisters.  The first deals with it by being around people nearly all the time.  The second will tell you that she has been depressed her entire adult life and has taken depression medicine for at least 30 years.  The third takes a plethora of drugs and tries both homeopathic remedies and prescribed drugs for her bouts with depression.  The fourth sister changes antidepressants ever so many years, has fought suicidal thoughts, and has undergone counseling for a number of years.

And what about the children of these sisters.  Each sister had a boy and girl, except Sister C who had two daughters and a son.  Sisters A and B lost their sons before adulthood, one to suicide, one to disease.  The daughters of all four sisters went through a period of heavy drinking during high school and shortly thereafter, and had multiple sexual relationships.  All the daughters are currently married except the daughter of Sister D who has sworn off marriage.  The two remaining sons, of Sister C and Sister D, are quite opposite.  One has married and divorced, the other has sworn off marriage like his sister.

There is another generation below these children.  It's a little early to tell how they will turn out.  But it will be interesting to see what the trickle down effect will be.  Yes, history records events, but it leaves out the pulse of the individuals involved in the events.  Seeing how people react to life is a kind of history in itself.  These sisters have exhibited a curious mix of the role of personality, environmental conditioning, and opportunity.  Following the children of the sisters will be equally interesting.  And their children?  Ah-h-h, fascinating indeed.