There are countless women–and men–who struggle around Mother’s Day, in different ways. What’s on YOUR Mother’s Day heart, Neighbor?
What Kind of Mother Has No Child 2016
Dear Journeyer, On May 8, 2015, I wrote this letter to you. I’m re-sharing it now, with a few time-related updates, because I feel it bears repeating again and again, year after year, until it has reached every single woman who has ever experienced the physical death of a child or the death of her Motherhood dream. Please share it with … Read More
Back to School
Friends, Tuesday marked the end of my long summer vacation and my first day back to work. I was writing diligently on yesterday’s post, Fear: Friend or Foe, but I have to say, I just plum ran out of steam. That five-thirty alarm came too doggone early after spending the past few months going to bed at one or two… … Read More
On Validation and the Value of Self Worth
As I sat in my therapist’s office last week, a small truth began to unfold before my eyes. “I guess I’ve just always been looking for validation,” I said. Learning. Growing. Understanding, Journeyers. That’s half the battle. As those words tumbled from my mouth, I remembered a conversation with my first successful therapist. I say “first successful” because my parents … Read More
A Mother’s Love Gone Wrong
Journeyers, it’s been a whirlwind couple of weeks. Family in the hospital. Family coming and going. Skeletons leaping from closets. Gatherings and celebrations have collided with worry and heartache and painful memories. The flurry of activity kept me from writing yesterday. The emotional drain of last night’s and the previous evening’s events leaves me exhausted. Limbs seemingly drained of life. … Read More
On Courage, Wisdom, and Triumph
I try to refrain from writing a great deal about my children for two specific reasons. Firstly, I don’t want to be one of those parents who whip out the six-foot accordion file of wallet photos when asked about my cherubs. And secondly, they have surpassed that age of “Look, MOM! TAKE A PICTURE OF ME!” but haven’t yet come … Read More
Motherhood and a Week of Wondrous Moments
“The story of a mother’s life: Trapped between a scream and a hug.” ~Cathy Guisewite Twenty-three years ago, today, I lay broken in a hospital bed. Forty-eight hours after giving birth to my firstborn. My room was filled with brightly colored flowers, symbols of celebration and sadness. I wailed when I opened the Mother’s Day card a friend sent … Read More
Digging for the Light, Excerpt 1
My last post was about hummingbirds and was included in the Happy Happenssegment of this blog.The following excerpt relates to the day after my Gavin’s first birthday, my second Mother’s Day. * * * The date was Sunday, May 12, 1991. Mother’s Day. I spent that day, the one that should have been my second Mother’s Day, weeping.Over a … Read More
Teaching Our Children to Fish
I’ve always called a spade a spade.A vagina a vagina. And a penis a penis. This morning I stumbled across a mother’s forum where a woman asks for pet names to call her children’s privates. She states that she always felt awkward when her mom used the word vagina, and she didn’t want to put her daughter through that discomfort. Oh, … Read More