Motherless Mothers

April 7, 2006

There is a new book out by Hope Edelman, called Motherless Mothers, how motherloss shapes the mothers we become. In it she discusses the challenges of raising a child without the help of a living maternal guide.

In an exerpt from her book, she examines what it is about motherhood that’s so healing for a motherless daughter. She interviewed many women in this book, who spoke of motherhood as an experience that restored their equilibrium, their self-esteem, or their faith.

I still have my mother, so I really can’t relate to this way of thinking. In my opinion, motherhood can be healing for all types of people, including those who still have their mothers.

Some of the women interviewed in the book share their defining moments of motherhood:

“The first time my son put his hand in my hand when we were walking,” remembers thirty-eight-year-old Corinne, who lost both parents by age eleven, “and the first time he ran to me and threw his arms around my neck, showing that he preferred me over anyone else, for him to love me back so uninhibitedly and unconditionally, filled some part of me that I didn’t expect would ever be filled again.”

I think there are defining moment in all of us. A moment where we identify with our new career of motherhood. Where we look into the little face of our children and know that there is nothing better than those “moments” we share with them.