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Bréjean finds a folder of her deceased grandmother's poetry tucked away in a closet and learns that she has a lot more in common with her "prim and proper" grandmother than she thought.

Written, produced, and sound designed by Lori Mortimer.

Story editing by Galen Beebe.

Mementos audio logo by Martin Austwick.
Music & SFX
Allie Mine by Blue Dot Sessions
Georgia Overdrive by Blue Dot Sessions
Pastel de Nata by Blue Dot Sessions

131032__klankbeeld__wind-in-tree-white-birch-01 © Klankbeeld Freesound.org
Birds Sound Effect by BurghRecords
420390__magdaadga__walking-the-leaves Freesound.org
looperman-l-1440756-0080599-simonecampete-strings-of-the-sun-pizzicato
looperman-l-1440756-0080594-simonecampete-strings-of-the-sun
looperman-l-1440756-0080595-simonecampete-strings-of-the-sun-2
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looperman-l-0747210-0174488-82-bpm-acoustic-guitar
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TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:00] LORI: Mementos sometimes what you really keep is on the inside.

BRÉJEAN: I feel like I’m very different from my grandmother. But am I?

She had such an image that she kept up. She was very prim and proper. You know, she had perfectly coiffed hair, and she had to have her face on, and she had to have her jewelry on.

And my grandfather was buttoned down shirts, ties, jackets when you went to visit him. They were not to be seen even in private or in public when they were not wearing those, you know, what felt like uniforms of the, um, prim and properness of it all.

In her home, you know, there was the matching bedroom set, and then in the dining room, the table and the, the armoire and the buffet, and the chairs, like everything was all about how it looked.

It was a little three bedroom ranch. All the rooms were kind of small. But what really struck you when you went to see her was when you walked into the living room, with the green and gold furniture – ’cause that was her color scheme – right over the fireplace, was a giant picture of my grandmother. Posed, sitting there, stately, lording over this home.

And that was just showing that she was really, she was the one in control of that home.

And all the while she had this wild side of her that she couldn't talk about or share.

[00:02:07]

LORI: Welcome back to Mementos. I’m Lori Mortimer, the host and producer of the show. If you’re listening for the first time, thank you. It’s great to have you here.

This week, we have our first grandma episode! My guest, Bréjean, is going to tell us about a memento that’s helped her see her grandmother in an entirely new light.

Just a heads up that there’s some content in this episode that’s not suitable for kids.

Bréjean lives in the U.S. with her wife their cats. They’re also the parents to two adult unschooled children who have long been out of the house.

Her story starts in 2012, after her mother passed away.

[00:02:50]

BRÉJEAN: And when that happened, I went to her house to go through her belongings. And there was like a little linen closet in the hallway.

Now, this house belonged to her parents. And when her parents died, she moved into the house. So a lot of the belongings in the house were from my grandparents, Ruth and Sal.

So I went through the belongings, and I went through that closet, and way on the top shelf, underneath some towels, was a brown envelope.

And it said my grandmother's name on it. And it said “poetry.” And sure enough, I saw what my mother had told me many, many years ago when I was a little, that my grandmother was a poet.

[00:03:37]

LORI: Even though Bréjean knew her grandmother was a poet, she’d never seen any of the poetry and they never talked about it.

The poems had been stored carefully and neatly, in chronological order, in an envelope and with a label that matched the way Bréjean’s grandfather stored all the important papers in that house.

Her early writings when she was little were all to do with nature. And they were very, um, sort of faith based. It was a lot of mention of God in her poetry, but a lot of mention of the beauty of nature, which really spoke to me because I'm pagan. So I found my spirituality in nature, and I found that really interesting that my grandmother, as a young girl, felt the same way.

[00:04:34]

BRÉJEAN: February 8th, 1933, Ruth, age 12. A poem called “A Tree.”...