A mother is not a person to lean on, but a person to make leaning unnecessary. – Dorothy Canfield Fisher
Since I was a teenager, I’ve prided myself on the fact that I didn’t ‘lean on’ either my father or my mother. But I’ve realized that that’s goofball thinking. The more I’ve had to convince myself that I’m strong and independent and didn’t need them, the more problematic my behavior became. And even now, I can’t imagine what it would be like to ‘lean on’ them, or even let myself be nurtured by them. But I do realize that there’s a hunger for it someplace inside me. And my dad’s death doesn’t change it. Oy. More work to do.