How did a mother carry that weight of concern for her children when her obligation to provide for them consumed so much of her waking life that it meant neglect in most other aspects, in time and attention, and made the children and the parent strangers to one another in the same home? How did my mother carry this weight? I admired and respected her even then without realizing I did, and without possessing even the vaguest notion of the sacrifices she made.
