Sgt. Pepper's: She's Leaving Home

Archive: Listening

She?’s leaving home after living alone for so many years

Washing the dishes on Piedmont Avenue in Atlanta in 1972 I was listening to Sgt. Pepper?’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. When She?’s leaving home came on I thought of my mother.

Daddy our baby?’s gone ?…
How could she do this to me ?…
We never thought of ourselves ?…
We gave her most of our lives ...

Not that my momma would?’ve had any recriminations. I?’d been the focus of her life for eighteen years. I?’d fled to the big city without a college degree. She would only worry about my wellbeing. I did wonder if she felt desolate, lost or lonely after I?’d left. In those last few years we?’d stood together against the ferocity of my father. Now she was without me. One of the many questions I should?’ve asked her when she was still alive and able to answer.

She was a naïve, sometimes silly woman. She was also tough enough to survive and eventually escape and triumph over a bad marriage. Her excellences survive however transmuted in me. I can never thank her ghost enough for unknowingly gifting me with a mix of qualities that enable me to make it through the pain and confusion that can be part of the best of life.

Stepping outside she is free

And a wonderful time was indeed had by all.