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Josiane bowed her head. “Was my . . . was my time with you and Papa the dream? Is this the real world I am going back to?” I turned away so that she could not see my tears. “It has all been real, my love. Every moment of
Bearing a child was an act of self-sacrifice. But loving that child, knowing that child inside and out, was the real magic.
I could feel it the second Josiane ceased to be mine, as she moved from my shadow into the arms of her true mother, who pulled her close and sobbed and whispered words I couldn’t hear.
To my surprise, she reached out one of her arms and, with surprising strength, pulled me in, crushing Josiane between us as she embraced me, too.
She nodded into my shoulder. “I will miss you the most,” she said. “Forever and ever.” She pulled away to look at me, and it was all I could do not to shatter before her. “I will miss you forever, too, my Josiane.” “I love you, Maman.”
“On the contrary, Madame Vachon. The right thing often takes the most courage and the most sacrifice. And you know she will be safe here. She will be loved.” “But she won’t be mine.” “Madame Vachon,” he said, his voice as gentle as anything I’d ever heard, “I’m afraid she never was.”
“Hearts have a way of healing when necessary.”
“You aren’t lonely?” “No, Madame Vachon. I meet her each night in my dreams.”
“Being a parent means letting go, doesn’t it? We give our children wings, but then they must fly alone.”
The future never looks the way we expect it to, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be beautiful.”
“But please, let me hold them in my memory. Let me remember that I was their mother. But let me remember, too, that I still have a life to be lived.”
And that was when I knew that even in the midst of war, even in a world through the looking glass, life had somehow unfolded just the way it was meant
Motherhood never ceases, even through loss and pain, for to carry a child in one’s heart is to belong to that child forever.
There’s no such thing as a perfect mother. None of us can look back at our children’s lives and claim that we made every single decision correctly. But if we lead with love—if we let our hearts guide our decisions and influence every moment we spend together—I think we’re on the right track. Motherhood never ceases, even through loss and pain, Marie Vachon realizes in this story, for to carry a child in one’s heart is to belong to that child forever.
