It's fascinating how many layers there are in a mother-daughter relationship. Different prisms, holding different memories and different emotions. Thank you Robin for reading and commenting.
This has really shifted some of my thoughts and feelings about my relationship with my mother and hers with my grandmother, so meaningful. A lot for me to unpack …
Awww, I appreciate you Dani. I know you've had a look that's been a bit more close than some. This is a careful attempt at writing and honoring with honesty.
Family secrets were definitely a part of that generation. Do I think that I inherited or learned to keep my own secrets? Was it shame or embarrassment that I kept my disintegrating first marriage a secret from family and friends for so long? I'm not sure, but your writing makes me reflect on my own past.
I share a longing for my mother's stories as well, and now that my older sister passed away over a year ago, I feel an even greater loss as there is no one left to ask or verify memories I might have.
What an open hearted response to reading my piece about my mom and I and, really, about mothers and daughters in general Sandy. It encourages me that something I write can take someone like you to places in their own history and heart. Wow, what more could we hope for when we write?
Some sad and similar differences between our moms and maternal grandmothers, and so much information shrouded in secrecy that always seemed to be tainted. It took me 20 years to share with Cherry! Family secrets were so "normal" to me once they came to light, I became desperately afraid of my own truth...
Thanks Mary. For reading and for your thoughtful addition to the conversation. I appreciate it so much. I've often wondered how my relationship with myself and even with my mother might have changed if we were able to talk openly about things that she thought needed to be muffled or silenced. Later in life, she dropped that guard; it was so much later, I barely caught a glimpse. But it helped to know more about my own family history. I'm grateful for every minute I had with her and for stories I didn't hear when I was little that help me understand her.
Gorgeous remembrance, Laury. So raw with longing and abiding love.
It's fascinating how many layers there are in a mother-daughter relationship. Different prisms, holding different memories and different emotions. Thank you Robin for reading and commenting.
A powerful story, thank you! I found important answers here too, those ancestral needs I still carry.
Susan, I really can't imagine a kinder thing you could say to me. Thanks for taking it in.
This has really shifted some of my thoughts and feelings about my relationship with my mother and hers with my grandmother, so meaningful. A lot for me to unpack …
I understand. I wish I had more time with her, to ask questions. To learn.
So well written and impactful. Thank you for your honesty and for sharing such personal memories.
Awww, I appreciate you Dani. I know you've had a look that's been a bit more close than some. This is a careful attempt at writing and honoring with honesty.
Family secrets were definitely a part of that generation. Do I think that I inherited or learned to keep my own secrets? Was it shame or embarrassment that I kept my disintegrating first marriage a secret from family and friends for so long? I'm not sure, but your writing makes me reflect on my own past.
I share a longing for my mother's stories as well, and now that my older sister passed away over a year ago, I feel an even greater loss as there is no one left to ask or verify memories I might have.
As always, thanks for sharing from the heart.
What an open hearted response to reading my piece about my mom and I and, really, about mothers and daughters in general Sandy. It encourages me that something I write can take someone like you to places in their own history and heart. Wow, what more could we hope for when we write?
Some sad and similar differences between our moms and maternal grandmothers, and so much information shrouded in secrecy that always seemed to be tainted. It took me 20 years to share with Cherry! Family secrets were so "normal" to me once they came to light, I became desperately afraid of my own truth...
Thanks Mary. For reading and for your thoughtful addition to the conversation. I appreciate it so much. I've often wondered how my relationship with myself and even with my mother might have changed if we were able to talk openly about things that she thought needed to be muffled or silenced. Later in life, she dropped that guard; it was so much later, I barely caught a glimpse. But it helped to know more about my own family history. I'm grateful for every minute I had with her and for stories I didn't hear when I was little that help me understand her.
Powerful and thought provoking. Thank you for writing this, Laury.
I'm grateful you took the time to read this one. Some emotional weight to it, I think.
Thank you for your kind thoughts about it🙏