11 Comments

Thank you for sharing your story, Beth and for posting this on your stack, Jen. Writing can certainly "save" us.

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It really can. I had an “ah ha” moment in the car today working my unpaid side hustle as an uber driver where I thought how I always am hard on myself for not journaling but I do this! And either way it’s an outlet for what’s going on. It counts.

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Thank you, Beth, for sharing your journey to the light. Love how you honored your mother's life - and yours, too, in this weaving of story and truth. Thank you, Jen, for being a gracious host on your stack, and a blessed writer of spun stories! Keep writing, women!

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Thank you for leaving this comment Sara. It means a lot. Appreciate you expressing this. And happy it landed well and right for you. Jen is incredibly talented at weaving complex emotional stories. There was a lot that needed to be channeled into a coherence here!

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I’m glad you shared all this, Beth. Losing your mother so young is a terrible thing; my brother in law lost his mother to breast cancer when he was 14. I don’t think he’s had therapy… Writing is so therapeutic, it’s incredible what we can discover about ourselves through writing. I was really moved by your story, my sweet. Lots of love, Cesca xx

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Thank you for this! It means so much Francesca. I feel like your brother in law would be a member of my club. I’m not sure how many people want to be but generally there’s one prerequisite and no questions asked.

Geez, I don’t want to start crying but it’s been a theme today with this piece. It’s hit me hard! It’s one thing to write and another to put out there in the world. And it really has nothing to do with having Substack friends see it because everyone approaches it with love and kindness.

It’s simply the very act of outting something you’ve held inside for so long after the hard task of trying to make meaning from it. Feels akin to releasing a secret - purging it

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This is wonderful. Not the death of your Mum, of course, that's a terrible burden your whole family was dealt, but your reflection, documenting your growth, and the ownership of your journey. You have such inner strength, and your star shines bright.

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Thank you for these sweet words. Lots of love! ❤️

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Thank you for sharing your story, Beth! It resonates on a lot of different levels- losing a parent early…going back to school later in life…being an unpaid Uber driver (which I assume meant driving kids around)…writing as therapy…all of it.

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Thx for reading. I’m glad it resonated with you. And yes to the side hustle of chauffeuring kids! They are worth it though, especially for the conversations they begrudgingly will have with me!

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“…online office hours events that I always looked forward to (if ya know, ya know). “

Bring back Office Hours!!

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