{"quotes":[{"text":"Her voice was perfect, custom-made for my ears. I wanted to hit the record button in my brain and save this all for later. Half of me was listening to her words, but the other half was mesmerized by the melody.","author":"Kathy Hatfield","tags":["mother","mothers-and-daughters","voice"],"id":2683,"author_id":"Kathy+Hatfield"},{"text":"Why should she dress in a cap and gown and sweat in the sun, when her mother was not there to pose in pictures with her and cheer when her name was called? In her mind, she only saw pictures they would never take, arms around each other, her mother gaining little wrinkles around her eyes from smiling so much.","author":"Brit Bennett","tags":["graduation","grief","mothers-and-daughters"],"id":2737,"author_id":"Brit+Bennett"},{"text":"My mother overstated the dangers of the world – invented threats. And so I saw: Starbursts’ hoof-made gelatin never gave me mad cow. Mad cow was not a threat to me. And so I thought: most risks weren’t truly real.","author":"Aspen Matis","tags":["aspen-matis","memoir","mothers-and-daughters","pct","young-woman"],"id":5127,"author_id":"Aspen+Matis"},{"text":"You must go further than I did,' Nedra said. 'You know that.'Further?'With your life. You must become free.'She did not explain it; she could not. It was not a matter of living alone, though in her case this had been necessary. The freedom she meant was self-conquest. It was not a natural state. It was meant only for those who would risk everything for it, who were aware that without it life is only appetites until the teeth are gone.","author":"James Salter","tags":["freedom","mothers-and-daughters","risk","women"],"id":5512,"author_id":"James+Salter"},{"text":"Maybe I stepped into the skin my mother left behind, and became the girl my mother had been, the one she still wanted to be. Maybe I was wearing her youth now like an airy scarf, an accessory, all bright nerves and sticky pearls, and maybe that's why she spent so much time staring at me with that wistful look in her eyes. I was wearing something of hers, something she wanted back. It was written all over her face.","author":"Laura Kasischke","tags":["family-relationships","motherhood","mothers-and-daughters"],"id":9743,"author_id":"Laura+Kasischke"},{"text":"I smiled and looked at her- there she was with such a genuine grin and twinkle in her eyes. I kissed my mother on her forehead and took a long look in to her hazel eyes. I wondered when I would have the next chance to see her as I whispered, 'I love you.' Mother didn't respond. She didn't look well- she had a tint of green and yellow to her skin and her thinning hair was a dull salt and pepper color, cut extra short and clinging to her scalp. She had no makeup on, which told me she just had no more energy. I began to walk out of her room and turned to look at her. I wanted to run up to her, shake her, and beg her to tell me she loved me and was proud of me. But when I looked at her, she was already sleeping.","author":"Jori Nunes","tags":["abusive-parents","attachment","emotional-neglect","emotional-wounds","insecure-attachment","love","mother","mothers-and-daughters","unreciprocated-love"],"id":11657,"author_id":"Jori+Nunes"},{"text":"I could feel her heart break from a thousand miles away, I cried her tears, I mourned her loss. I saw the pain beneath that smile, the strength behind those eyes. Our silence spoke about our presence...What a conniving double edged sword pain is, breaking and binding us concurrently. Such a profound thing love is, that someone once a stranger I now call mother.","author":"Evy Michaels","tags":["loss","love","mothers-and-daughters","mothers-love","pain","strength","tears"],"id":23481,"author_id":"Evy+Michaels"},{"text":"I'm blessed and I couldn't be more grateful. Do you want to know why? Because I'm a mother, but that's only half of it. I'm blessed because, when I need to, I can still just be a daughter. I get the feeling that there is nothing more precious than to have both of these roles, simultaneously.","author":"Adrianna Stepiano","tags":["mother-s-day","motherhood","mothers-and-daughters"],"id":25113,"author_id":"Adrianna+Stepiano"},{"text":"No matter how old you are, you always want your mother’s love and acceptance. I guess I’m hoping one day I’ll get it back.","author":"Hilary Grossman","tags":["daughters","mother","mother-s-love","mothers-and-daughters","mothers-love"],"id":29694,"author_id":"Hilary+Grossman"},{"text":"My mother is a certainty. I can count on the watercolour pain in her voice when she calls to say she hasn't heard from me in months. The precarious laughter as she comes from the kitchen, when I finally do appear on her doorstep, the laughter that says I might be a chickadee that's alighted unexpectedly on her thumb.","author":"Trevor Cole","tags":["childhood-trauma","forgiveness","guilt","mothers-and-daughters","parent","recovery","regrets"],"id":31635,"author_id":"Trevor+Cole"}],"pagination":{"page":1,"page_size":10,"total":122,"pages":13,"next":"?page=2\u0026page_size=10"}}