It takes a very large heart, and a very strong heart, to hold so much joy and pain, love and grief. You witnessed Colleen unfurl from an infant into a vital and challenging presence, and then watched her passions furrow into a trench she could not clamber out.
Thus, this most precious mother-daughter relationship begun in celebration and ended in death and grief. Your honoring this passage so brilliantly is a celebration of your humanity.
I am so glad that you continue to cherish the marvel that Colleen was. I am so glad your younger daughter can learn from you and cherish you. I am so glad that readers can read your anguish, grit, and unshakable love in your marvelous, magnificent book. I am so grateful we can all be inspired and challenged to love as fiercely as you have.
Your strength, your courage and your incredible and unwavering love for your beautiful girl is an inspiration to any parent or for that matter, anyone who has a child they care for in their life. Your poem ijs a such a loving tribute and an acknowledgment that those we love never really leave us.
Beautiful poem, Ann. Annamae is 34 and will be 35 in October. I thought Colleen was older than she, so I am surprised, but I guess it must be that Colleen was a much more advanced ballerina and likely in classes with older girls. I’ve been feeling left out of her life and hurt by the inability to be the baby’s primary grandmother. They live abroad and when we were once as tight as you and Colleen, it has shifted so much that I feel only on the edges of her world. Being able to watch a daughter grow into middle age is a wonderful privilege, but can also be painful.
Dear Ann,
It takes a very large heart, and a very strong heart, to hold so much joy and pain, love and grief. You witnessed Colleen unfurl from an infant into a vital and challenging presence, and then watched her passions furrow into a trench she could not clamber out.
Thus, this most precious mother-daughter relationship begun in celebration and ended in death and grief. Your honoring this passage so brilliantly is a celebration of your humanity.
I am so glad that you continue to cherish the marvel that Colleen was. I am so glad your younger daughter can learn from you and cherish you. I am so glad that readers can read your anguish, grit, and unshakable love in your marvelous, magnificent book. I am so grateful we can all be inspired and challenged to love as fiercely as you have.
Thank you, Alison. I am so grateful for your support.
Your strength, your courage and your incredible and unwavering love for your beautiful girl is an inspiration to any parent or for that matter, anyone who has a child they care for in their life. Your poem ijs a such a loving tribute and an acknowledgment that those we love never really leave us.
Thank you, Lynn!
Beautiful poem, Ann. Annamae is 34 and will be 35 in October. I thought Colleen was older than she, so I am surprised, but I guess it must be that Colleen was a much more advanced ballerina and likely in classes with older girls. I’ve been feeling left out of her life and hurt by the inability to be the baby’s primary grandmother. They live abroad and when we were once as tight as you and Colleen, it has shifted so much that I feel only on the edges of her world. Being able to watch a daughter grow into middle age is a wonderful privilege, but can also be painful.
I hear you, Denise. I have other friends who have talked about this. It's real.