I’ve been on this journey of searching within and digging deep within for the past several years. During this time I went from being a daughter, a lover and a friend to becoming a Mother of two beautiful Suns.
Being an Auntie vs Mommy is totally different and I understand. You rent your cousins, nieces and nephews but you cant give your children back to anyone. On my Journey I continue to discover the many different layers of myself. One major discovery is who I am in connection to my Mother. I deal with this daily. Actually, I have been dealing with this for over four years. My Mother is a very strong, opinionated, stern, funny and dramatic woman that expresses her love in a different kind of way. We didn’t have a good mother-daughter relationship during my teenage years up thru early adulthood. I struggled with wanting to create my Identity. I no longer wanted to be seen as a little girl but a young lady. There were nights where I would call on my Father. I pleaded with him to come get me because me and my mom got into a heated argument, again. There were times I would cry myself to sleep asking God “Why am I going thru this” “Why is she my mother?” I never received a response. I even ran away but ended up back home a few days later.
I did not understand her. She was evil and miserable to me. All she did was yell, curse, complain and just never seemed happy. When she would come home this dreadful energy came in the house with her. My sister and I never knew which Mommy we would interact with at any given moment. My sister and I formed an alliance. We consoled each other whenever the other was in trouble. I protected her from punishment and she looked to me as her hero. I eventually learned that I could not save her (another story for another time).
I created a few outlets that helped free me from my reality which was reading and writing. Every chance that I had as a teenager I would stay outside or at the movies. Writing was my greatest escape and I have plenty of spiral notebooks to prove it … Haha haha. I would play my music and zone out into another world. I allowed the ink to take me away. The pen gliding across the paper felt great. I controlled that pen. I told it what to write. It never disappointed.
I realized over the past few years that your children are extensions of who you are. It’s like a tree with branches. The parents are the tree trunk and the children are the branches. They are reflections of you; good and bad. The same go for our parents. Our parents help set the tone for us. They help set the blue print for the way that we will interact with people. How we see the world. If we are team players. If we know how to give and receive…Love. How we see ourselves. Knowing the family history is vital for survival. Knowing the health issues, understanding why all your Aunts and Uncles have different fathers. Why Auntie disappeared and changed her name. Why the Jacksons don’t speak to the Jordan’s. These are a few items but you see where I’m going!? There is such a thing called Generational Curse. No family is perfect but seriously take a step back and look at patterns in your family that span generations. When you check them branches and see how they are connected to the root and at which point, you will know your self. It is through understanding your family and ancestors path that you will know where u want to be headed. But until you check your family stories you will be delirious. You will cause unnecessary pain for you and those around you.
I have learned to forgive my mother and I no longer view her as a tyrant. Becoming a young woman I realized that my Mom did the best she could with what she knew. As I have grown into the woman that I am I noticed many skeletons fell out my moms closet. Things that I couldn’t judge her on because I know she did the best that she could.
Dear Momma,
Why you so miserable? I barely see you smiling. Why don’t you express your love to me? You never say you love me. You barely hug me. I cringe every time I hear your keys opening the door. I want to disappear to a happier home. A home where my Mom & Dad are still together and happy. They are so in love each with each other and they love me too. But I open my eyes and see you standing right outside my room yelling out my name. It’s not my fault that your life is this way. It’s not my fault that you forgot about your dreams. That you were a teenage mother. That, that, that Daddy left you. That you tried to keep skeletons in your closet that always found their way out. I use to hate you but now I forgive you cause I realize your lost. Your a lost, unloved little girl in a grown woman’s body. I feel sorry for you. I pray for you. I feared being you but the way I’m built I will never be you. I’ll pray for you.
There are many elder mothers that have raised their daughters with damaged mentalities. The pettiness, the bickering, the divisiveness, passive aggressive behavior, jealousy and any other form of destructive behavior which does not promote love. These daughters are now grown up and having children of their own. I wasn’t given the best tools. I am learning and healing…Me. I had to stop and realize my Mother was broken. She does not know how to LOVE purely because of her brokenness. While raising her children that brokenness was projected on all of us. I am tainted. I have been trying to figure out who I am in this time. I must work hard to unwire the Bullshit. I must also heal myself so that I may be love to my children. I was having an emotional time while I was pregnant because I did not want to become my Mother. I worried about making the same mistakes she made. I feared being a single mother. I feared being a tyrant. I feared being angry and bitter. By the time my first Sun was born I realized “I am not my Mother”. I do not have the same experience she had. Therefore I can’t be like her.
I am being real about this Life. It ain’t easy but I am doing the work to heal. I Reflect within. I transform into a surgeon by using the mirror to dig deep, cut open, toss out and patch up. I am not looking to any one to fix me because I know myself better than anyone else. I am my own Healer.
Have you had this experience of seeing your parents differently than you viewed them as child?
How has that affected your relationship with them?
I’m curious to know.
By Julz Wordsmith
P.S. This post took me 352 days to finish.