Everything My Mother Taught Me

by Alice Hoffman

There are those who insist that mothers are born with love for their children and place them before all other things, including their own needs and desires. This was not the case with us.

She had ruined my father’s life, and mine, and she didn’t seem to notice. She was the sort of person who saw only herself and her shadow, and the rest of us disappeared in the bright sunlight.

A woman like my mother shouldn’t have children.

You could grow to love something so strong and elemental, but you’d have to value the beauty of it more than you did your own life.

“She’s good at many things,” Julia said matter-of-factly. It was the nicest thing anyone had ever said about me.