Status Updates From What My Mother and I Don't ...

So heartfelt, I appreciate the vulnerability of these authors.

Y'all are barely talking about your mothers come awn.... ano pa point nung libro

wowowowow i think this may end up being a 5 star read

Just started reading the introduction and Filgate is already starting it off with a relatable quote!

"For others, it's the realization that their mother, although alive, doesn't know how to mother them."

“Quizá todos nosotros tenemos un gran vacío en el que nuestra madre no coincide con esa “madre” que creemos que debería ser y con lo que se supone debería darnos”

Que pensamientos tan fuertes y como todo está en la perspectiva que lo veas o pienses

“Y creo que es una negación saludable que permite que mi matrimonio continúe”

“But it also frustrated me, the constant clams on her time. I’d think, “What about me?” Though sometimes i also thought, “Maybe she doesn’t want to hang out with me.” After all, I can be intense, talky, opinionated too…

the way i got this book from a tiktok not even ab it….

this is very real for me so far 😆

Who’s fucking ready to feel things?

Somewhat selfishly, I think I could write an essay for this book

🥲

oge audible listen

Me esta encantando este libro

“Todo lo que soy es prueba de que estaba equivocada acerca de mi; sin embargo, la mujer que he conocido durante mi vida entera no se disculpa, no admite culpas. Creo que ella me ama, de la misma manera que creo que es mejor que no seamos parte de la vida de la otra. Porque mi identidad ha sido moldeada por lo que ella no es, ella es para mi, un ejemplo de cómo no llevar una vida.”

this book is like having my life spat out in my face, told by multiple different perspectives

"In youth the convulsions of fate, fortune and love come at short intervals: as one grows older the stretches of non-event are longer, but the convulsions are more extreme, and come as tidal waves in a calm sea, rather than as peaks of fluff and foam in choppy water"

"nothing left unsaid" and "while these things feel american to me" have been some of my favorite essays so far.

"nothing left unsaid" made me cry. thinking about motherhood and mother/daughter relationships is so hard for me and now i'm fucked up. maybe i shouldnt have picked this up to read during a 24h bus trip ⚰️

“Hay una diferencia entre el miedo a molestar a alguien que te ama y el peligro de perderlo. Por mucho tiempo yo no pude separarlos. Me ha llevado algo de trabajo discernir la diferencia entre el dolor de lastimar a aquellos que amo y mi miedo de lo que podría perder. Herir a los que amamos es algo a lo que podemos sobrevivir. Es inevitable. Debería haberla herido menos.”

every mothers story hurts

wow.

So the thing about multi-author collections is that you can have maybe the singular best essay you've ever read right next to the essay that sounds like a slightly revised journal entry ( not meant for public consumption ) so I’m. IDK. it’s like an index fund

16 MINETTA LANE… 11/10 NNNO NOTES

cathi sees the flaws in her father and how he treats people, especially her mother. her mother tries to cover for her husband and his abusive ways. cathi also has a hard time trying to realize her father is abusive. she says “well he didn’t hit me so that means he’s okay”. he still is very abusive, physically or not. her mother states she will never leave him even after 50+ years of marriage.

On my way!

All very very sad stories… not sure the point of them either. I really like ‘are you listening’ chapter so far

Every story from While These Things Feel American To Me through the very end has hit me so hard and resonated so deeply with me CHRIST.

"I wanted us to get better at love." MHMMMMMMMMMMMM

“Our mothers are our first homes, and that’s why we’re always trying to return to them.”

"I just want her to love me now. Here. On Earth."

I support women’s rights and wrongs but why is there so many male wrongs 😢