As a follow-up to My Name is Lucy Barton I had to wonder as I was sitting with my exquisite group of readers in the book club, what personal reactions poured into the mix - because after all we are all mothers and daughters. Since then I've discussed the book with a few friends and have found very strong reverberations among them - for good or bad. All I can say is that if I could awake and find my mother at the foot of my bed any day of the week, month or year I would be ecstatic! But I know that's a gift.
I do think that whenever a child has a major problem with the dynamics of the childhood home, that child's shoulders will be heavy for life. I'm not saying that people can't come to terms with whatever injustice or hardship, but that primal relationship - if skewed - is most difficult to untangle and shed completely.
So back to the gift. I say with each waking day, a smiling thank-you for my mother and father. I know that I did nothing to slide into my family of seven. They were all given to me. And as the tissue and wrappings fall away each day, I am humbled anew at my enormous good fortune.
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