I found a copy of this letter recently, I had forgotten about it. But what moves me is the real bare emotion around motherhood, around how hard it is. How no matter how much we may love our children we are still human and there is no rule book. My mother has been my best friend most my life and this letter just reminds me about how deep her feelings around this hard time hit her as a woman and a mother! Thanks Mom, xx B
Dear Bridgit,
A letter comes from the woman child, the depths of feeling overwhelms me. She writes over and over of her feeling and her love. My heart spills over with thankfulness.
I left home when she was fifteen, one of the “runaway mothers”. Many have followed my steps in the last few years. I feared that she may not have had enough of my woman-ness, of my love.
But she knows, she sees, she feels. She craves to make her own space for herself, of herself and by herself. Only then can she come forth with fullness and wholeness. Perhaps she’ll never need to run away.
Barbara Lee, circa 1980