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Show (oil or outshining them. I was free to think of them in an open, natural light. I was free to love them. With the glare diminished, I was able to study each of the mothers in the soft l i g h t of memory, coaxing each childhood experience into the comparative context of the present. they were a l l attached Uhile A somehow A to my f a t h e r , like jewels in his crown, each was unique, as natural gems must be. Each had her facets of sharp and smooth, her places of high polish and cutting edge. Each had been burnished against the whetstone of a most demanding l i f e s t y l e , s a c r i f i c i n g size to setting that she might ' r a i s e up a righteous seed unto the Lord.' I wondered why, in a l l my s e l f - p e r u s a l , I had not noticed how strongly they had influenced me. Now I began to measure each one as she stood within me. I saw that I had acquired t r a i t s and c a p a c i t i e s from each of the mothers that each had given me her legacy. And I saw how the variety and spectrum of choices had enriched - and confused - my life. Aunt Ge A r?awas the manager within me, the woman who arose early on Saturday to clean the entire house before ten, the woman t h a t could balance the budget " . e v e n when i t refused 1 I i 111" to balance. Aun#^d a h a d rooted the woman*who summoned energy *en the task had grown tiresome, the one who must include a ll the children in the neighborhood in a picnic or a swimming party. She had r e f l e c t e d and encouraged a similar magnanimity in my father, throwing open the door to l e t everyone in. Perhaps, I thought, i t was Aunt GeArd' a w,h o ,h ad. ^in.vHitteedd aalnl the new women J A o^TTvninre to be, someone tion tob e thwei thf amasi lyo,l d knaogwe inegn ctrhoaact hT-et hdAe . y nqShehPee d eppdee rrhnsaoapmp sp lbaceel ieved that *> +** women s t i l l with my father, since she was the f i r s t - m a r r i e d of the women |