The Past

I have had a few moments when I look at Saskia and see myself.  And I wonder, is this what it was like for my mother when she looked at me as baby?  And then I start thinking about my mother, and my childhood, and that can lead to so many flashes of memories from growing up in Newton.  The hill that used to be across the street from my house where we would sled in winter and roll sideways down it in summer which is now a college dorm.  The walk to the Cumberland Farms with my best friend Molly, with 30 cents each in our pocket for skittles.  Its now a 7-eleven.  The high school I went to- (where the prevailaing hair style was to curling iron your bangs upwards from your forehead and spray) which was recently torn down and replaced with a 200 million dollar structure.  Gone Baby Gone.

here was a sample I found on the internet of the hair:

I recently auditioned for a part, and the description of the character was like Amy Ryan from Gone Baby Gone.  I've had discussion about Boston accents a lot.  My husband Matt's family is from Greater Boston, and they have subtle vestiges of their Boston accents.  I never spoke with a Boston accent, my parents weren't locals- but it was all around me, and I heard it every day of my life since I was born.  My first home was a two family house, and the family who owned it, who lived upstairs, were the Romanos.  They had lovely accents.  Christopher was Christopha.  Linda was Linder.  George was Gahdge.  I'd be greeted with a "hawaah yoo?" Matt's family is in stitches when they remember his older brother asking for a "fahkin spoon" (fork and spoon) as a child.  Neither of us have accents, but we can slip into them.  So its hahd to hea (hard to hear) a bad Boston accent on TV or in  film.  Preparing for that audition made me remember a whole slew of lingo that was particular to the kids with Boston accents in Newton.  "Mush"(affectionate or derogatory term for a person depending on tone), "divia mush" (crazy mush)... this was particular to my high school actually.  There is a whole article written on the way the kids who had Boston accents around me spoke, and I guess still speak here.

And then yesterday I saw it.  The mush in Saskia.  The mush in me.