Untitled Manuscript

Untitled Manuscript, by Nellie Saxton

This is an autobiography, of sorts. It is a collection of my grandmother's memories, experiences, and funny stories that she wrote down as a Father's Day gift for my great grandfather in 1981. It has never been published, however, I think that it should be.

I find it extremely interesting that despite growing up in a different era from me, she still had very similar experiences, and yet, so very different. Neither of us spent a significant amount of time in a public school, but the reasons were very different. As she got older, she spent time traveling, in some cases on her own, and in other cases, with her friends, just as I have done. She tells a story of her daughter adopting a stray cat, only to discover it was pregnant. I find this particularly humorous, because her OTHER daughter (my mom) adopted a stray cat, with the same results, and I continued the tradition by adopting a kitten, although I broke the tradition by having HIM neutered right away.

If I ever have the opportunity, I would like to correct a few grammatical errors, replace a few pronouns with proper names, perhaps add a family tree diagram in the front, and then ask my mom to write a similar story, perhaps writing one myself when I have kids... and then getting the whole three generations published in a book. Since my mom, my grandmother, and I all enjoy writing, I think it is feasible and appropriate that we should attempt this.

I'd like to give you an excerpt, since my grandmother's writing style is as natural as if she's there telling you the story, and in fact she tells pretty good stories too. My favorite excerpt? "Mother never did forgive her [Grandma's 4th grade teacher] for asking if I was getting enough to eat at home. I was always so skinny and always ate more than anyone else in the house. Mom always made us hot cocoa with lots of cream and then would drop a big blob of butter on top, trying to fatten us up. She put butter in everything, but we were just naturally thin. I guess we took after Dad as he was always so thin that he could get into his World War 1 marine uniform and march in the Memorial Day parade until he was about 65 years old."

See what I mean? Its like a conversation, flowing from one topic to the next but still illustrating the point. I think with a little editing and organizing, it could be publishable. Except I'm not a publishing house, so maybe all those editors disagree with me.

Anyway, I would recommend this book, if it ever gets off the press. Without a doubt.