Scarlet Sims - Mom, Fidge Wallace, 2026

20x24 oil on canvas

My mother had a legal name, but nobody used it. She went by Fidge, short for Fidget. She was born into Scottish heritage from her father and Irish heritage from her mother. From early on, she was taught to fight and to watch for signs. A bird could be a messenger foreshadowing the future. A moth could be a message from a dead loved one. A brass statue that moved could be haunted by spirits.

My mother always said she dreamed of me and her grandson before I was even conceived. Well before we existed, before she met dad, she did sketches of each of us that are now lost in time. 

My mother did not believe in linear time anyhow and said time was actually a circle. My great-grandmother called my grandmother after she had already died to say she was alright. It’s hard to say which time we were in. Similarly, three weeks before my mom died, she called me to ask me how it felt to be an orphan.