Doctor mama

            As my grown children live into life as I lived it, as they share more and more layers of the experiences that I have known, I feel a deep resonance connecting us. Then there are those other aspects of their lives that are foreign to me. I have no context to share with them. I can learn new layers to add to my knowledge base, but not my experience base.
            Hard to say which are more powerful – the shared-known or the revelatory. Each is transformative in its own way.
            Jonathan and I brought Fiona to the hospital yesterday to visit her mama for lunch – Fiona’s lunch. It saved Nellie a breast-pumping session and gave us more time to visit. I watched Nellie carry on a medical professional’s conversation with her dad while she fed Fiona. Nellie the mommy was fully present, even as her doctor self missed not a beat of the verbal exchange. She nursed Fiona, burped her, held her lovingly, gave her kisses, smiled at her sleepy, milk-drunk expression. I watched in fascination, because I never had a profession while I raised my children, and the beauty of this scene was outside of my world experience. My heart fluttered in wonder as I witnessed my daughter’s graceful balancing of two core identities, so deftly, so gently.
 
My 60th year in 60,000 words
Day 173: 218 words, TOTAL = 28,404; 31,596 remaining