"nothing is impossible. The word itself says I'm possible!"
Many Irish looked to escape oppression and the resulting Potato Famine during the mid 1800’s. Baltimore, Maryland was a primary destination. Mia’s family settled in rural Baltimore County by the water. The fishing was good. The rent was cheap. They could build a life.
The family endured extreme poverty. Women were sexually abused. Men drowned their pain in drink or just walked away. Children, parents and grandparents had seen too much death and depravity. Mental health was never a topic of conversation. Men weren’t allowed to cry. You had to keep going. Keep working. Buck it up all week and fight it out at the bars on the weekend. Women became tough as nails. Men sacrificed their souls so that some future generation could live free and well fed. Mia’s mom suffered so much. Diagnosed with schizophrenic tendencies, Mia's mom was sent to an Illinois State facility for Mentally Insane. It was Mia and her sisters. From time to time an uncle came by. Those were the darkest of nights for the girls.
Locally Seasoned's Spicy Berry Chutney is inspired by Mia's story.
Audrey Hepburn
Irish need not apply. Mia had to find work. Perhaps she could pick crab meat. Irish need not apply. Perhaps she could answer phones. Irish need not apply. Beautiful Irish girls figured out how to maneuver in the world. They learned those lessons very young. Mia was very beautiful. She was stubborn and scrappy, with a wily charisma. She had an inner strength that only comes from many generations of Irish women who had come before her.
Mia idolized ladies in picture shows. Dressed in flowing fabrics and adorned in jewels, they laughed while sipping sweet fruity drinks. Flappers had power. Flappers were strong and independent. Mia wanted that. As is typical of the Irish, once you decide you want something you just go out and do it. Nothing could keep Mia from her dream of being a dancer in New York City. By the time she was 19 she created a fast paced shiny life.
Mia enjoyed rich food prepared in restaurants with fresh ingredients and exotic spices. She felt spicy and in control of her destiny. It was the golden age of dancing in the 1930’s. An explosion of creativity and interpretation. Mia thrived in this art and food culture.
She thought herself a lucky girl when she met Harold. He was a wealthy young man from Baltimore who had to have her. His family had run businesses in North Carolina and Maryland since the late 1600’s. They looked good together. She made him feel alive and vibrant. He held the promise of her future. They married and she conceived a beautiful baby boy, Daniel.
“You’re nothing but a servant!” yelled Harold. Mia didn’t seem to know her place. She complained about Harold's treatment. He said she didn't want to clean. Harold couldn’t teach her not to talk back. She didn’t know proper etiquette. She was insolent and had no class. How could Harold marry so far beneath his family? Mia and her boy were a problem.
Little Danny was removed from her care at 6 months. He was returned after a few months only to be removed again by the time he was 3 or 4 years old. The official story was that she had no interest in being a mother. She preferred to live a life of decadent parties and drinking. Mia was unstable with questionable character. Mentally insane. At some point she contracted tuberculosis from her wild life. She went to a state hospital where she passed from the disease. Her son, Daniel, felt his mother's presence often and named his first born daughter after her.
State institutions don’t keep records for very long. Mia passed in the mid 1940’s. It’s 2020 and we’re in the pandemic. On a whim, Daniel’s daughter reached out to the hospital to see if there were any records for Mia. Within weeks they confirmed what Daniel’s daughter, Mia, knew. There were no records dating back 80 years.
About a year later, Daniel’s daughter received a phone call. It was the state hospital. They had found some old records from the 1930’s and 40’s. They had Mia’s records.
From her records, it seemed Mia may have developed postpartum depression. She was so worried that her son would be taken away that she locked herself in her apartment with her 6 month old child. She feared her husband. She was too depressed to eat. In those days women with postpartum depression were considered unfit mothers. Mia was committed to Maryland state mental institutions in Catonsville and Sykesville. There she was diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic like her own mother. She was incarcerated against her will for 5 years where she received the most advanced psychiatric treatments known at the time. We now know how horrific and torturous those treatments were. Mia's records show that her mother spent the rest of her life in Illinois state mental institutions. Mia fought through her helplessness. She never stopped asking for her son, Daniel. Her pleas were taken as hysteria and written into the official record as proof of her insanity. She felt completely powerless. She lived on pudding and apple sauce. Mia never gave up asking to see her son. Like a broken record she repeated over and over that she wanted to see Daniel. Finally, she was sent for treatments inside of the TB building. Mia contracted TB and died 4 months later. It was then she joined many generations of strong Irish women before her. Daniel never knew his mom. He was eight years old. He never knew how loved and wanted he was.
Or did he? Daniel had regular dreams where his mother would visit. He could see her smile, touch her face, hear her laugh. Her soft voice whispering love and encouragement as he slept. Daniel believed that Mia never left him. That she was always there from beyond the grave, transcending generations and obliterating time. Daniel developed deep compassion and understanding.
And while Daniel never knew his mother’s true story during his lifetime. Mia made sure it was kept safe for 80 years until one of her granddaughters asked the Hospital for it. After all, beautiful Irish girls know how to maneuver in the world. And Mia was was stubborn and scrappy with the strength of many generations of Irish women. Mia’s immense love for her son transfers to her grandchildren who still feel her whispers of love and encouragement to this day.
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real stories of resilience and courage that reveal the power of the human spirit. Some details have been altered for ANONYMITY.
Mia's story
