Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Jan Elisabeth's avatar

This is so poignant and beautiful. Susie, and such a blessing.

My mother had such deep scars from her violent, abused childhood that she was unable to pass on love. She threw me out when I finished school, didn't attend my wedding (aged 18) and then briefly re-netered my life in a chaotic and destricutive way -- she told me to abort my third pregnancy (planned and wanted) because I had enough children already, would only buy gifts for my oldest (a son) becasue 'girls are worthless' (Rowan is now trans fem!:)) and finally broke all ties with me and her granchildren when the fourth was about 18 months old, because I asked to discuss ground rules about how we treat children with respect in my home.

I haven't seen her for almost 29 years except for a weird chance sighting from a train platform when I was returning from visiting a dying friend.

I hope my children could write about me with a fraction of the love you and your mother had and which lives on in you always. It's such a profound gift to the world -- and I love this: "For years I tried to run from everything my beautiful mother was, I didn’t want the same life and yet, it is everything I have without even noticing the journey and, just like her, I love life."

To find that simplicity and love are everything.

Thank you.

Expand full comment
Kimberly Warner's avatar

I cannot…I’m…words….will never come close to the feeling this left in me. Susie, the scars of your mother’s love, I see them now reaching like the branches of an ancient tree, beetroot stained, mending and all-knowing, reaching outwards and then back into your own exquisitely scarred existence. I zoomed in on that dear photo and then again on how she gently held you with such love. Thank you for this unforgettable offering Susie. I so want to believe she heard your words as you typed them. ❤️

Expand full comment
32 more comments...

No posts