Motherless daughters grief

Hello, Old Friend

It matters not if your mother has been gone for six weeks, six years or sixty-four years, as mine has. A mother’s love was our first love and remains that anchor always.

Sometimes unexpectedly, I will feel an ache deep inside that sits heavy like a boulder and has the makings of an avalanche. I go about my day, my life, as if there was no weight upon my heart, but my insides recognize this visitor. I am reminded of it, this faint knowledge that it’s almost Mother’s Day, and I hope the rockslide of emotions don’t start. I want to stay the course and keep everything in its place.

I love being a mother, myself, although I have endured times of angst as I stumbled along trying to do “it” right. Being a mother and grandmother has been my biggest blessing. My daughters have grown up right before my eyes and no longer make me macaroni angels or hand painted plaques that say, “Prayer Changes Things.” They are always so good to shower me with gifts and thoughtful cards that I save in a big box, safely tucked away. Someday, when I am gone, they will find it and laugh at me for saving so much, but that’s alright, I could not bear to throw away their words or thoughtfulness.

Yet, when it comes to Mother’s Day, I fall silent. I feel uncertain of what to do with myself and I am deeply aware that the sadness I feel is not in aligned with the way most of the world thinks.

I want to cry and sit alone with my sadness. I want to look at pictures and have a cup of tea or a glass of wine. And, at the same time I want to go with my daughters for a long walk among flowers and beautiful trees, feeling the sunshine on our faces, confirming I am alive. My feelings are a contrast as day is to night.

I want to celebrate my mother. I want to celebrate being a mother and my daughter being a mother. But there’s that ache deep inside that wants nothing to do with sunshine, long walks or brunch. That ache says, “You’re alone, so be alone. No one understands anyway.” That ache makes me separate and odd because I hurt on a day others feel joy and gratitude.

I’ve long ago made sense of being left motherless. I understand that sometimes bad things happen to good people, and more than that, I understand that this ache will not kill me. While there are times I thought it might, it has become an old friend, although unwanted, that is familiar and will retreat after a time. This old ache will go back to where it lives, underneath my heart, lodged over to the side. But it will come back another time, perhaps unannounced, smaller in size.

Please don’t feel sorry for me, as that is not what I want. I know I am okay. I am not alone on this motherless journey; I know there are far too many who travel with me. I want them to know it is fine to have feelings that go back and forth. It is okay to have the ache and still want the sunshine. It will not always hurt this bad, so go ahead and feel. God in His wisdom has given us the ability to see both sides, to feel both sadness and sunshine.

“And gradually his memory slipped a little, as memories do, even those with so much love attached to them; as if there is an unconscious healing process within the mind which mends up in spite of our desperate determination never to forget.”
― Colleen McCullough, The Thorn Birds

The Angels Sing by: Nancy Malcolm

Playing outside in a gentle rain, stomping through puddles, and laughing wholeheartedly

Eating ice cream for breakfast

Wearing my Easter dress shoes to school before they became too small.

Coloring outside the lines

My daddy would say these things were frivolous, irresponsible, even wasteful. Thus, the spontaneous gene was not passed down to me. It died a fast death somewhere between The Great Depression and my mother’s passing.

Growing up in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s, we were rarely allowed to have fun. My father, a recent widower, was structured and purposeful as electrical engineers are prone to be. I feel he became even more so due to my mother’s absence. He felt overwhelmed at times and we could tell because his voice would rise, and he would enunciate his words with harsh diction and authority. We, my brother and I, knew exactly when his anger would peak and tried to avoid it at all costs. He never admitted his struggle to hold us together and remain functional, as that would have been seen as weakness.

I remember one specific time when I saw my father happy. He was in the kitchen making us a homemade pizza. Benny Goodman, The King of Swing, was playing on the turn table and my father was drinking a Gibson. This stood out to me because he was not really a drinker and I had never before seen little white onions on a toothpick. Daddy was dancing to the music and making our pizza, and my brother and I felt awash with his happiness and sudden break from our strict routine. It was a spontaneous moment for Daddy, and we were witnesses to his ability to laugh and dance. Now, as I look back, I say ‘bless him.’ He wanted just a few minutes of normalcy, a few minutes of fun. Perhaps he had a memory of my mother floating along with the smooth clarinet notes, holding her in his arms and swaying to the beat.

The story doesn’t end well, though, because my brother and I complained about the pizza with garlic, tomatoes, olives and other strange ingredients. We were kids doing what kids do, but the mood ended as my father began to feel frustrated with our immature pallets and bickering protests. I remember the music being turned off and us having peanut butter, while he finished his drink and pizza. I felt his sadness reappear as another lonely Friday night came to an end.

Benny Goodman and his Orchestra played a song entitled, “And The Angels Sing.” This was popular around 1939 and the early ‘40’s and just listening to it brings back so many memories of my dad through the years. He loved jazz. Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Dizzy Gillespie to name a few, were his favorites. On rare occasions, his music seemed to transport him to a more carefree time, and it showed on his face and in his demeanor. Sometimes he would break into a Charleston or foxtrot by himself, always on beat and always with a smile. And I was always amazed at his spontaneous display of pure joy.

‘Bless him’ and bless Bennie Goodman for showing us a part of our father we might never have seen. This must have been the part my mother fell in love with. She probably admired his spontaneity and smooth moves on the dance floor, and no doubt, as she looked down on us from above, she wanted nothing more than for him to be happy again, carefree and spontaneous.

We meet and the angels sing,

The angels sing the sweetest song I ever heard,

We speak and the angels sing,

Or am I reading music into every word?

You smile and the angels sing,

And though it’s just a gentle murmur at the start,

We kiss and the angels sing,

And leave their music ringing in my heart.