Susan Larson, explorer of the edges

 

My friends have always said that I have a raucous laugh and a bawdy sense of humor. I have no doubt I inherited these from my mother who had so little joy in her adult life, yet she was always joking.

Growing up was hard, almost a page out of Angela’s Ashes, but it made me resilient and gave me the ability to find joy in the small gifts life offers. And being the eldest of five children made me a bit bossy, so I have been told. I was also told I was nothing but trouble.

When my father died, drunk on our couch, in 1960, we were uprooted from Seattle and moved to a town of 300 in central Mississippi. We were always the Yankee outsiders, so I learned what it means to be treated unfairly. This served me well when I became a high school English teacher dealing with teens who were struggling to find their place. 

I started working in 1969 at the height of the women’s movement and EEOC. This opened doors for me that I never imagined. For someone no one expected much from to a business leader and a social activist, it was a remarkable journey.

Marriage never worked for me. I have read that successful marriages often come from the lessons learned in one’s home, but I had no such experiences to draw on. Luckily, I always married good men so I never endured the physical and psychological abuse common to many women. My last husband was a university professor so I was able to complete my degree in education at age thirty-eight, which opened a new world of opportunities.

This led me to a twenty-year teaching career overseas which was a rich experience. So from a small-town outcast, I taught  the children of Embassy staff, NGO leaders, and big businessmen from virtually all over the world. My history as the trouble maker made me attuned to those students in my class who were bouncing around the world, albeit in far more comfort than I ever experienced. I could relate to them in ways others could not because teens often feel unworthy and left out.

Family and friends were horrified when I moved overseas to teach and my first job was in Cairo. At that time there were bombings in the city and at tourist sites. A cousin wrote to me, describing her life like a “merry-go-round” and mine was like a “roller coaster.” Yes, it was a roller coaster because in every country I taught they seemed to be embroiled in violence and civil war.

Yet, because I grew up living on the edge, with no safety net, it seemed normal to me.

Now that I am retired in Mexico and I look back on my life, I wonder just what put the fire in me that others seem to lack. I continue to volunteer but now it is primarily with animals and I have started two blogs: one is an effort to capture the stories of the brave single women where I live, https://storiesmovinglakechapala.blogspot.com/ and another about my life, https://worldbeginnings.blogspot.com/ 

I am still trying to figure out who I am and what I am supposed to be doing here.