This book really brought home the overriding theme of our book club meeting last weekend. Basically, the idea is that our mothers all had lives before they were our mothers and most of us don't know anything about them! In this book, the mother of four daughters is dying of cancer and leaves a journal and letters to her children about her life as a woman, a mother, and a cancer patient. The story itself focuses more on the daughters and their struggles with relationships and life after your mom dies. Lots of not-so-subtle advice about communication being the cornerstone of any healthy relationship (parent-child, boy-girl, sibling-sibling).
It's a tearful read, mostly because you spend a lot of it thinking about how you would feel if your mom died and you were in the same situation. It would SUCK if my mom died. I wouldn't know who to talk to about silly stuff (last week I called her to find out what kind of vegetable oil I should buy), serious stuff (luckily, not a lot of that has happened recently), secret stuff (sh! it's a secret!)... My mom and I have a great relationship and I wasn't too much of a brat during my teenage years (I don't think), so we kind of grew into our adult interactions pretty smoothly.
But to go back to my original point, moms aren't just moms and I think it would be great if we all took the time to find out who our moms were before they were ours! I have this sort of odd perspective with a lot of my friends who are now becoming mothers. I knew them before they were moms and yet sometimes it's difficult to focus on the part of them that isn't a mom because it becomes so much of their identity.
In any case, this was a great book to read in honor of mothers - it made me REALLY APPRECIATE mine!
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