The way you write with slow, intentional beauty ls deeply moving. This is the kind of mother I would like to be. The one who takes the time, who makes the effort, but who stays true to herself and her womanhood. Thank you for this, and happy mother’s day.
This helped me understand my mother more. It helped me understand myself more. I am sobbing and have been since the first sentence. Thank you for sharing your story with us, it allowed me to have compassion for women for as much as we endure but especially the mommies, this gave me so much room to give my own mother and women in my life grace. It isn’t easy being the translator for another when some days you can barely translate for yourself (if at all). I have hope for myself when I enter motherhood. I have hope for my mom too. I know in forgiving and understanding myself I am doing the same for her in ways she may have never been able to. Thank you, Caitlyn. And Happy Mother’s Day! Much love to you & your little boo, and Happy Mother’s Day and much love to everyone who is celebrating (however that may look for you!)🫂🫂🫂🫂
I am going to have to come back to this later in a quieter moment, but I saw this in my email and felt it like a thunderbolt, and I needed to say right now: I feel you, I feel you, I feel you, because this is my story, too. Very young motherhood, going through college and graduate school as a young single mother, juggling the identities of academic and writer and mother. And writing about it is so brave of you; there are a few of us out there and we do not always let ourselves be seen because the world judges mothers, and it judges young mothers, and it judges mothers who want something for themselves. It judges mothers who feel both the joy and the strain of it. So thank you for writing this. 🖤
Happy Mother’s Day Caitlyn. Although I am not a mother (yet), your love letter to motherhood is deeply moving and shows how grounded and aware you are when it comes to upholding your duties. Enjoy your day and embrace the memories made today and tomorrow.
This was such a beautiful layered piece, it made me view your world from a totally different perspective. Delightful, subtle, honest. I really love and appreciate your voice.
Come back. What a beautifully honest, yet not overly dramatic reflection. I feel this as a mother (of a 12 yr old) and as a daughter who a has been seeking softness and a sense of safety since childhood. Thanks for new ways of seeing that make sense. Your daughter is lucky to have you. And thanks for mentioning her age. So much writing on motherhood is about the early days. The tween / teen / adult children days need just as much presence and care - for you and for them ❤️
Wonderfully written. Your words read like waves upon the shore.
Your text tied in remarkably well with a topic I read about in the news recently. Recent brain research comes to the conclusion that there is no mothering instinct, nothing that gives someone who gave birth an instinctual knowledge of their child and its needs. Thus someone who has more difficulty connecting with their child is in no way "deficient" as it is sometimes implied. And people who have not given birth can connect with a child in similar ways a mother can. The article called it a "care instinct" (Fürsorgeinstinkt versus Mutterinstinkt).
The way you write with slow, intentional beauty ls deeply moving. This is the kind of mother I would like to be. The one who takes the time, who makes the effort, but who stays true to herself and her womanhood. Thank you for this, and happy mother’s day.
This helped me understand my mother more. It helped me understand myself more. I am sobbing and have been since the first sentence. Thank you for sharing your story with us, it allowed me to have compassion for women for as much as we endure but especially the mommies, this gave me so much room to give my own mother and women in my life grace. It isn’t easy being the translator for another when some days you can barely translate for yourself (if at all). I have hope for myself when I enter motherhood. I have hope for my mom too. I know in forgiving and understanding myself I am doing the same for her in ways she may have never been able to. Thank you, Caitlyn. And Happy Mother’s Day! Much love to you & your little boo, and Happy Mother’s Day and much love to everyone who is celebrating (however that may look for you!)🫂🫂🫂🫂
I am going to have to come back to this later in a quieter moment, but I saw this in my email and felt it like a thunderbolt, and I needed to say right now: I feel you, I feel you, I feel you, because this is my story, too. Very young motherhood, going through college and graduate school as a young single mother, juggling the identities of academic and writer and mother. And writing about it is so brave of you; there are a few of us out there and we do not always let ourselves be seen because the world judges mothers, and it judges young mothers, and it judges mothers who want something for themselves. It judges mothers who feel both the joy and the strain of it. So thank you for writing this. 🖤
Happy Mother’s Day Caitlyn. Although I am not a mother (yet), your love letter to motherhood is deeply moving and shows how grounded and aware you are when it comes to upholding your duties. Enjoy your day and embrace the memories made today and tomorrow.
This was such a beautiful layered piece, it made me view your world from a totally different perspective. Delightful, subtle, honest. I really love and appreciate your voice.
Gorgeous letter. This felt so hopeful. Thank you.
🤎
This was beautiful and it deeply moved me. Thank you
Incredible writing once again, only this time it made me tear up in a great way! Thank you for sharing this part of your life with us!
I appreciate reading this as a father who can still relate to so many aspects of parenting without knowing much of what it was like to be parented.
You describe it all so beautifully though. Thank you!
I love what you are saying here . You writing is so deep . I love the effort you put into it. It’s so inspiring.
I have read this twice already, I will
Come back. What a beautifully honest, yet not overly dramatic reflection. I feel this as a mother (of a 12 yr old) and as a daughter who a has been seeking softness and a sense of safety since childhood. Thanks for new ways of seeing that make sense. Your daughter is lucky to have you. And thanks for mentioning her age. So much writing on motherhood is about the early days. The tween / teen / adult children days need just as much presence and care - for you and for them ❤️
absolutely gorgeous. could read this 10x over
Wonderfully written. Your words read like waves upon the shore.
Your text tied in remarkably well with a topic I read about in the news recently. Recent brain research comes to the conclusion that there is no mothering instinct, nothing that gives someone who gave birth an instinctual knowledge of their child and its needs. Thus someone who has more difficulty connecting with their child is in no way "deficient" as it is sometimes implied. And people who have not given birth can connect with a child in similar ways a mother can. The article called it a "care instinct" (Fürsorgeinstinkt versus Mutterinstinkt).
I was an elementary schoolteacher and was like a mother in many ways to children who needed a mother. It was very gratifying.
Amazing…beautiful…wow.
Beautiful, brilliant and emotional. Thank you.