Go as a River

by Shelley Read

But the one benefit of having a dead mother is the ability to turn her into an unwavering ally, whether she would have been one or not.

He knit his tiny brows and we stared at each other a long while like two souls reconnected after being a universe apart.

Each day, I was building a life of my choosing, and it was a good life. I knew what was missing, but I was also appreciative of what was there.

“A woman is more than a vessel meant to carry babies and grief.”

We are one and all alike if for no other reason than the excruciating and beautiful way we grow piece by unpredictable piece, falling, pushing from the debris, rising again, and hoping for the best.

I had chosen to meet on these shores because my rising wisdom understood that I must carry my whole past alongside the new space I had created in myself for hope.