What’s in a name
The roots of Geesje as a person and of her names are found in the province of Groningen in the north of The Netherlands. A province with many little earthquakes as a result of gas extraction. Land and old buildings, farmhouses and churches are cracking. Slowly but steady they are sinking into the clay and further down below sea level.
Geesje is named after her grandmother on mother’s side. Grandma was born early 1900 in the eastern part of the province. Coming from a low-class family with more than ten children, she had to quit school at the age of twelve. She started working as a maid to support the household.
Names in numbers
A few miles from the village where the maternal family lived, is the manor located that belonged to the family of Geesje’s grandmother on father’s side. If you think that having two last names is a bit pretentious, this family acquired four last names, leaving the paternal grandmother, after her marriage with no less than six last names.
The parents of Geesje met for the first time as students of the University of Groningen. They both obtained their academic titles.
Her mother was the first in her family to go to university.
According to father’s family the love interest of mother was purely based on her desire to acquire the family name. (There are ways to safeguard possessions and wealth.)
They married halfway the 1960’s and divorced some twenty years later.
Gaslighting historically referred to extreme psychological manipulation to commit an individual to a psychiatric institution or cause mental illness. A gaslighter often sees names and meaning as commodities which can be changed, bought and sold as pleased. The marriage soon turned into a business relationship with unequal partners.
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It is difficult to see the real dynamic in a destructive relationship, especially if one’s young and part of the composition.