Saturday, May 9, 2015

Remembering When I Was a Bird




It is the province of mothers to preserve the myth that we are unburdened with our own problems. Placed in a circle of immunity, we carry only the crises of those we love. We mask our needs as the needs of others. If ever there was a story without a shadow, it would be this: that we as women exist in direct sunlight only.
When women were birds, we knew otherwise. We knew our greatest freedom was in taking flight at night, when we could steal the heavenly darkness for ourselves, navigating through the intelligence of stars and the constellations of our own making in the delight and terror of our uncertainty.

from Terry Tempest Williams' When Women Were Birds, Fifty-four Variations on Voice 
 
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18 comments:

  1. Ms. MoonMay 9, 2015 at 12:57 PM

    Wow. Wow, wow, wow.
    So much there. And that's two paragraphs?

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    1. ElizabethMay 9, 2015 at 6:06 PM

      I know. It's kind of blowing my mind. That's in the first few pages! She wrote this book as a response to inheriting her mother's journals --- shelves of beautiful journals that were bequeathed to her by her dying mother who made her promise not to open them until after she'd died (at the age of 54!). When she opened them, they were ALL BLANK. I'm so excited to read this book --

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  2. 37paddingtonMay 9, 2015 at 4:49 PM

    Wow. I'll need to read that a few times and try to call back the muscle memory of night flight. Wow is right.

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    1. ElizabethMay 9, 2015 at 6:06 PM

      See above --

      And yes, muscle memory. That might be the weird ache we feel at times.

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  3. Denise Emanuel ClemenMay 9, 2015 at 8:31 PM

    That is fantastic. Thank you.

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  4. JoanneMay 9, 2015 at 9:36 PM

    Beautiful! And that picture of you with your mom - just precious, so fragile.

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  5. N2May 9, 2015 at 10:41 PM

    Thanks so much for reminding me of this. I especially love the second paragraph in its entirety. We women know what it is to take flight at night. Happy Mother's Day, you strong and courageous mother, You! x0 N2

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  6. Steve ReedMay 9, 2015 at 10:45 PM

    Terrific! And what a strange story about the journals.

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  7. TheresaMay 10, 2015 at 2:28 AM

    Leave it to you to have the perfect quote. Happy Mother's Day! ox

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  8. jo(e)May 10, 2015 at 6:47 AM

    I love that book. Although I do have to admit, that the part of the blank journals still drives me crazy -- I want to know what her mother was thinking, and there is no way to know ....

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  9. Carrie Wilson LinkMay 10, 2015 at 8:48 AM

    Happy Extreme Mothering Mother's Day to you!

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  10. karioMay 10, 2015 at 8:56 AM

    Fuck, I needed to read that. And now I am left with a major lump in my throat. Happy, happy Mother's Day to you, and happy birthday to Oliver. Love.

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  11. AnonymousMay 10, 2015 at 2:01 PM

    Have you seen this little video - http://narrative.ly/cheating-death/all-winter/
    About a mother with a young daughter in Maine who has a severe seizure disorder and her use of cannabis.
    - Karen

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    1. ElizabethMay 10, 2015 at 11:23 PM

      Thanks, Karen. That was a beautifully made short documentary. I will share it!

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  12. My life so farMay 11, 2015 at 4:02 AM

    That quote is lovely. Thank you for that this morning.

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  13. AnnDeOMay 14, 2015 at 5:53 AM

    I am a sort of Terry Tempest Williams stalker. I live in some of the places she writes about and am familiar with her subject matter. To hear her speak is a spiritual experience. She embodies her words. But, I have a kind of funny story about this book. I attended a reading for this book and it was soul-filling as always (for me). A few days later my friend, who is an author, and I made a road trip to Missoula to attend another reading by a friend of hers. Kim Barnes (In the Kingdom of Men) and the wife of the poet Robert Wrigley. Afterwards they invited us to dinner and drinks with a whole gathering of authors. (I was star-struck) They were all so confident, and passionate and skilled at articulating argument. The subject of TTW and When Women Were Birds came up and one woman said -- To do that to a daughter (leave the journals empty) her mother must of been the most passive-aggressive bitch...

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    1. ElizabethMay 14, 2015 at 7:42 AM

      I haven't finished the book -- really only started it, and I admit to feeling dismay for TTW when I read the opening, and I wondered if she ever reflected on what it meant, how horrible it was --

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    2. ElizabethMay 14, 2015 at 7:42 AM

      I haven't finished the book -- really only started it, and I admit to feeling dismay for TTW when I read the opening, and I wondered if she ever reflected on what it meant, how horrible it was --

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