My mother had refused to allow us to take swimming lessons despite our requests to learn. A two-time veteran of WWII, twice drafted and twice honorably discharged, our father had been an excellent swimmer, according to our mother.
He had even taken her upon his back into the ocean. And yet her fears of the water remained.
I can only think of the astrological configuration, Jupiter conjunct Neptune, both which co-rule the sign Pisces symbolic of the great ocean. This configuration lived in the twelfth house of my mother’s astrological chart.
I find it no coincidence that she trusted my father’s swimming ability, he having been born under the sign, Aquarius, symbolic of the water bearer. Yet my mother did not trust our ability, mine and my brother’s, to learn to swim even though she knew, and held great respect for the lady who would be conducting the swim lessons.
Perhaps my mother’s fears were heightened in that my father had died. I am certain she did not want to be alone. I would be leaving for college in two years. She did not expect my brother to enter college. Academics were not his strong point.
I am not sure of my mother’s awareness, but my brother had plans for entering the military.
(to be continued …)
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