Evelyn

Evelyn is her Christian name. She answers to Evie or Ev as well when she hears others calling her, which is getting harder with her progressive hearing loss, despite hearing aids in both ears. About 12 years ago, she and her husband went on an Alaskan cruise for seniors where, in a rare spirit of spontaniety, every one in their group were given nicknames. Hers was "Evil Evelyn". She was given that particular moniker mainly because that is the antithesis of how every one preceives her. Her grown children will tell numerous stories about her extraordinary passivity and deferrence. At the dinner table, she will wait until everyone is served before filling her plate, and then with the most miniscule of portions at that. In a group, and even with her husband, she seldom voices her desires preferring to defer to others. Avoiding conflict is the most important thing to her when interacting with people. She reflects with more than slight resentment, over the years how others have preceived her is what she has become.

These last few days she and Ken, her husband of 54 years, are vacationing with her daughter and her family at the Oregon coast. She's enjoying the time together, but mentally strategizing on how to keep everyone happy, including her two young grandchildren, is wearing her down. She wouldn't admit it to anyone, but she is ready to go back home in rural southern Oregon, where there would be more opportunities to be by herself. To escape into her own space, get lost in her own thoughts, and not have to suffer the intrusions of others and their accompanying mental demands.

"Evil Evelyn", what she wouldn't give to embody her alter ego at this moment.