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“The Threadbare Heart” Mother’s Day Contest Winner

May 9, 2010 Suzannah Windsor Freeman Filed Under: Site News

“The Threadbare Heart” Mother’s Day Contest Winner
Image courtesy rachelrusinski on Flickr

I was pleasantly surprised to receive this entry from Ray Colon for Jennie Nash‘s Mother’s Day contest, to celebrate the release of her latest novel, The Threadbare Heart. I love the example Ray has given of his favourite fictional mother/daughter duo, and I think he’s done a great job of explaining why this couple is so memorable.

Ray, I hope you (or a special woman in your life) enjoy your signed copy of The Threadbare Heart. Thanks for such a great essay, and thanks to Jennie Nash for letting us take part here at Write It Sideways!

Happy Mother’s Day!

One of my favorite mother/daughter pairings in film are Rose and Loretta Castorini in the 1987 movie Moonstruck.

Although the two appear together only briefly, I enjoyed the realness of their exchanges, the humor each infused in their angst, and the relevance of their stories to moviegoers. These women – facing similar life choices at very different stages of their lives – helped each other define their relationships.

Love stories often include soliloquies which are not how people communicate. This bit of dialogue typifies the type of exchanges that people are more likely to have.

“Do you love him, Loretta?”
“No.”
“Good. When you love them they drive you crazy because they know they can.”

Sometimes, thoughts are best expressed through humor. After the laughter, the words sink in, as when Rose comments on the lack of intimacy in her marriage.

“Now he’s going to play that damn Vicki Carr record, and when he comes to bed he won’t touch me.”

Her husband’s enthusiastic singing of love songs, paired with his disinterest in his wife, illustrates how passions often ebb in long-term relationships.

In the end, Rose reclaims her marriage by confronting her husband about his affair, while reaffirming her love for him. She is happy about Loretta’s decision to marry, yet she remains mindful of the pain that is a part of relationships.

“Do you love him, Loretta?”
“Aw, ma, I love him awful.”
“Oh, God, that’s too bad.”

The commonality of their situations makes this mother/daughter story resonate with us all.

Filed Under: Site News

About Suzannah Windsor Freeman

Suzannah Windsor is the founding/managing editor of Writeitsideways.com and Compose: A Journal of Simply Good Writing. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Malahat Review, The Dalhousie Review, Prairie Fire, Geist, The Writer, Sou'wester, Anderbo, Grist, Saw Palm, Best of the Sand Hill Review, and others. Suzannah is working on a novel and a collection of short stories, both of which have received funding from the Ontario Arts Council.

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Join the discussion

  1. Indigo says

    May 9, 2010 at 10:30 pm

    Mother/Daughter relationships can be a complicated beast, that ends up pulling you every which way and turning you inside out. Yet I will say, I never knew I could love my daughter so unconditionally. As an adult I see bits and pieces of me in her and delight she stole the better pieces in the end. (Hugs)Indigo

    • Suzannah says

      May 9, 2010 at 10:41 pm

      Hi Indigo,
      To be honest, I think my two boys are so much less complicated than a daughter could ever be! While I hope to have a little girl some day, I know how hard it is for mothers and daughters to understand one another. Thanks for stopping by 🙂

  2. Ray Colon says

    May 10, 2010 at 12:19 am

    Hi Suzannah,

    Thanks for being a participating blog in this contest and for posting my submission. I enjoyed writing the essay and hope that your site visitors enjoy reading it. I’m also looking forward to receiving the signed copy Jennie Nash’s book.

    Happy Mother’s Day,
    Ray

    • Suzannah says

      May 10, 2010 at 12:21 am

      No problem, Ray. Thanks for your essay!

Trackbacks

  1. Templates Exist For A Reason | Ray's Blog says:
    May 10, 2010 at 2:24 am

    […] submitted a short essay to a contest on Write It Sideways and Suzannah has posted it to her site. Please visit her site (after commenting here first, of […]

  2. Tweets that mention “The Threadbare Heart” Mother’s Day Contest Winner -- Topsy.com says:
    May 10, 2010 at 5:56 am

    […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Suzannah . Suzannah said: “The Threadbare Heart” Mother’s Day Contest Winner from Write It Sideways http://bit.ly/bFrWbZ […]

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