branding
the act of stigmatizing
NOTES:
"God's mark was put on me early and stories were the branding iron" (Taylor 1995, 13).
chortle
a soft partly suppressed laugh
NOTES:
After emptying half of Mother’s condiments and seasonings into a massive mixing bowl, Mother’s mock disbelief earned a hearty chortle from Dad, “Get out of the kitchen woman!”
confused
mentally confused; unable to think with clarity or act intelligently
NOTES:
Forced separations left us feeling confused , afraid and lonely.
cripple
deprive of the use of a limb, especially a leg
NOTES:
Her guide, the president of the Texas United Church Women and a member of the board of the Scottish Rite Hospital for Crippled Children waited.
dad
an informal term for a father; probably derived from baby talk
NOTES:
Dad was a self-made businessman with a fourth grade education who looked and sounded a lot like Fred Flintstone.
devastate
cause extensive destruction or ruin utterly
NOTES:
Leaving was difficult on Mother, but it was devastating for Dad; after that, he found hospital visits increasingly more difficult.
giggle
laugh nervously
NOTES:
Where we played in the grass and giggled with delight when Dad gave us airplane rides on his feet.
haphazardly
in a random manner
NOTES:
Dad's grief was so intense that he drove haphazardly .
scrumptious
extremely pleasing to the sense of taste
NOTES:
I never figured out just what it meant, nor did I ever learn just how to “back my ears,” but I know how to dive in fully at a Thanksgiving table laden with scrumptious food.
sporadically
in a sporadic manner
NOTES:
Heavy-hearted parents conversed sporadically while the wheels moved continually across the flat Texas land.
victimized
of persons; taken advantage of
NOTES:
Thirty- forty percent of whom were victimized by a family member (Darkness to Light, accessed 2010).
wannabe
an ambitious and aspiring young person
NOTES:
He blessed us with a large family; four birth children, six adopted children- not to mention those who simply, "wannabe Greene."
chortle
