this woman’s work

Oh the irony

Jun 20, 2008 Family

I was thinking today about how Pennie and I have some similar stuff in our families of origin. And I was thinking about how both of us want to protect Madison from having the same sorrow and struggles that we have had but instead in some ways we’re perpetuating patterns.

I remember reading somewhere that the children of holocaust survivors remember their parents’ memories even if their parents kept the concentration camp stories from them. The children have nightmares that are eerily similar to what their parents experienced.

I think about this as the child of an abuse survivor and I think about this when I look at my kids. Sometimes I think that the best we can do is inch forward every generation. Maybe the most we can do is give our kids just a little bit more of a fighting chance.

This isn’t to be all doom and gloom. I think part of our collective problem is that we think there’s a finish line, a place where we can stop and simply smell the roses. But the truth is, life is a series of challenges and of questions and of grief and of joy. It’s ever-changing, ever-moving; it’s always something.

I’m feeling low-down saggy and rag-tag-baggy and blue today. But I know next week will be better. (Some weekend stuff to get through — it’ll all make sense when I get to post it.)

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