Somewhere I always knew that the answers lie in books, cumulative knowledge that lies dormant until the appropriate combination of lived experience and wisdom collides into epiphany. Im sure it’s part of the reason I want so badly to write one…. Many.
More apt the answers lie within ourselves, but books are the mirrors, particularly in the absence of a loving and safe parent relationship, that help us become known to ourselves.
I cannot for the life of me remember who recommended me to read Wild Game by Adrienne Brodeur. I think I know, and I know that has no correlation with what the person means because they are no less than soul tribe as this book connected life changing dots for me at this time in my life. How did they know ? It stands to reason the people that venture to love us in one way or another, can often see us better than we see ourselves. This is certainly the case with me, as we all know by now I’m often invisible to myself.
I’m awaiting my Sunday treat of a visit from Chip. He brings groceries, the things a parent might do. I can only hope to fashion myself as half the person he is with consistency and thoughtfulness. These are things I now have the space and knowledge to cultivate within myself. I can truly feel and see the joy in tending to my children. I never wanted it to be a thankless duty, a burden, or to take more from them than I gave. To use them for my own benefit unwittingly from the life that was dealt to me.
I have been determined about that, as much as anything else. Though to me it has only seemed about my love life. I couldn’t see the rest of me, only my mistakes. There isn’t a fate worse than that. Purgatory.
I am finally realizing who I really am is not the worst possible assumption, even in the face of many eyes that could see me that way: there will always be those that truly appreciate my full real self. I am rambling now as Oslo and my daughter’s boyfriend are visiting and I cannot miss these moments. It’s no longer a raging battle and desperate attempt to get my words down before they escape. I mean it still is, but my priorities are no longer backward, making my children feel as if they are irritating to my existence, rather than the thing that has always breathed meaning and life into it.
If I had only ever just been less overwhelmed with survival, with life, with myself…. But if I had I wouldn’t be me, and have my cast of characters and a rich landscape to create from. Life has to be lived forward, but can only be understood backwards. No truer words. Kierkegaard
It’s not where you get lost that matters as much as where you land. Character (not a forced kind, but the kind that emerges from the genuine caring for another’s well being before the self) is everything, it will always emerge outside of the mistakes. It stands tall, when momentary clips of life fail to capture the big picture.
I always wanted to be closer to my kids. I just didn’t know how. I believe an onlooker could scream common sense or just easy, but for me this was not. Desperately terrified at any second I could morph into something that I came from, and as a result of that fear, a self fulfilling prophecy. Moody. Short fused, vibrating with anxiety.
When I read this book I see how much worse I could have done, and it answers a lot of questions for me. I could have used my children as my confidante, and because I didn’t know how to not do this, as it’s how I was raised, I stayed always an arms length away. It is my sincere hope that through therapy and this reconnecting with myself, this now can heal. Because it was never the truth of my affection for them, or my true desires and motivations.
I always put love first from what felt like a place of necessity, despite others judgments including a therapist recently who suggested some shoulds and that I could have hired a nanny. Interesting perspective and I’m wondering with what resources, emotionally or financially. The truth is we can harm others with our world views and belief systems, while never having lived a moment in their shoes. I hope to always be mindful of this, when it’s so easy to forget and just blurt out words.
I am not perfect, sometimes I say things carelessly, in sessions even. I can always tell by the immediate reaction in my client. To the best of my ability I attempt repair then and there, if I am unable at that time. I make sure not to repeat the mistake, because I’m able to pick up on how it made them feel. I can feel the immediate shift, as they tense up under the weight of sometimes their own judgments, preceded by my well meaning launch of passionate preaching.
Something I love most about my clients is I believe the majority of them know my heart, character, and intentions, and feel my repairs. I believe that’s why my clinical relationships are so deep, meaningful, and continue to evolve. When they are not or do not parting is not a trauma it’s done with care, concern, and an appropriate amount of honesty. So we both are allowed to grow in the absence.
Anyway this book. I could feel the stab straight through my heart as the main character waited loyally for a bond, recognition, etc from her mother that never came. On her wedding day it was not about her in the least. Her entire life it was about her mother. My heart aches for all the hopes that were born and died in vain, and the toll that took on the host.
This book helps me sew up a long time gaping wound of abandoning my mother. Always wondering if I had it wrong, am wrong. This books help me see what would have been had I tried to belong somewhere that truly never saw me.
And the benefit is two fold because it gives me even more motivation to be genuinely about the lives of my children, interested and invested. While striking that delicate balance of still having my own life. Something worthy to strive for. And nothing about this can be all or nothing. It’s truly one foot in front of the others with my priorities straight and it’s working. It’s no longer the mythical they, or any other myth.
Reality is that we are healing and reuniting and it’s not grand gestures or manipulation of facts, painting a reality over their lived experience. It’s sincere change.
This book has helped me see what would have been. Even as I read it I longed for the being wanted and normalcy of her marriage to Jack, that stability and to be adored, the honeymoon and all that shared experience and closeness. And yet her mother’s affair and lack of presence gave her no arena to create a relationship with herself. The result depression, disconnection, and her suffering.
It was at this very moment I’m realizing all I dreamed I didn’t have is not the stuff that matters most, and that I truly am more than capable and aware of those things, which will lead to a life that is fulfilling in ways I haven’t begun to imagine yet.
I wonder what it will look like for my kids that their mother is catching and correcting, the very second she could, and also sitting with the burn of all the years I was consumed and distracted with my own pain. The guilt could swallow me sometimes, but when I understand that too is selfish, and pick my head up and carry forward with my corrections, is better than trying to go back to understanding or halting my ability to exist in peace, because if I am to create space for them to learn who they are, I must find acceptance and eventually joy for my whole story.
It is necessary.