"A Lasting Impression" By Debra Anderton

     Debra Anderton's "Lasting Impression" Is the story of a determined and selfless woman who has simply endured too much of life's sorrow's. Anderton's mother was raised in a poor family on a farm in Alabama. Her love for her family became obvious then when she sacrificed her own education in order to stay at home and help her family. Little did she know that this sacrifice would pay it's toll on her body and mind later in life but that is sometimes the price we pay for the financial security of our family's. After working multiple jobs and attempting to be the wife of a "jealous man with a quick hand" Anderton's mother began to abuse alcohol to "escape the madness"(Anderton 41,42). The mother's declining condition was due to her self affliction as well as her children's lack of action in regards to their mother's serious addiction to alcohol and obvious domestic abuse.

     Part of me feels sickened by the fact that her children just stood by and let her destroy herself, however I feel I would have done the same in their situation if I had been raised in the same fashion they were. Her children were too afraid of offending her because they simply wanted to please their mother but only ended up hurting her more. A somewhat similar situation happened in my life. My grandmother smoked at least one pack of cigarettes a day. Despite my concern and my family's concern for her health we decided to say nothing about her self destruction. Eventually she became stricken with lung cancer and passed away during my middle school years.

    The theme of "A Lasting Impression" in my eyes is: if someone you love is abusing drugs or alcohol speak up before it's too late. Perhaps if Anderton and her siblings would have said something to their mother she could have lived to see her grandchildren. Anderton's lasting impression of her mother comes not from the horror's of her later years but the sacrifice she endured for her family during her early years as a mother. Hopefully Anderton's memory of her mother will be of the hard working and loving mother she knew for most of her life and not the crumpled and drunken mess she became.

- Alex Simpson