…women in Inner Mongolia until this century,
and maybe some even now, stayed up all night to
guard sheep, cows and horses from wolves.
…they also baked, cooked, watched children, took care of yurts.
…they milked cows.
…they slept in short shifts.
…my grandmother milked her cow, made cheese and butter, baked, cooked, cleaned.
…she cared for a spate of ages.
…she tended her orange day lilies.
…I do not remember her sleeping.
…the Inner Mongolian women and my grandmother, fifteen thousand miles apart, but together in their
sleepless lives, lives dominated by food, less so by children, generations ….
