Heroic Mothers, I Salute You

Heroic mothers, I salute you

How can you watch Susan Bro speak about her daughter without tearing up? What a magnificent woman and mother.

On July 31, Nashville Mayor Megan Barry lost her only son to a drug overdose, but she is back at work, fighting for DACA.

And earlier today, I read about a mother who started a foundation to distribute naloxone to drug addicts after her twenty year old son died of a heroin overdose.

These mothers are everything I’m not. They have pulled themselves together to do something good in the world. They are memorializing their children with so much courage and fortitude!

All I’ve done is cry and wail and sleep and try to distract myself. I feel like grief is the defining aspect of my entire existence, even though I don’t want that to be true.

Maybe it’s not too late for me to be productive. Who knows. I am skeptical, given my laziness, which is legendary.

What I do is sleep with his stuffed animals and wear his hair in a locket and go around feeling lost. But I did write to Mayor Barry and she wrote me back. I wanted to tell her that it would never be okay but it would get easier. Her son had the sweetest face, and his name was Max.

If you didn’t hear Susan Bro talk about her daughter Heather, here she is.  On the one hand we have Trump, a disgraceful amoral piece of shit, and on the other hand we have a ordinary woman exhibiting the best of humanity on one of the worst days of her life.

Let’s thank her for giving us hope, and for being a light in the wilderness of 2017.

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7 Responses to Heroic Mothers, I Salute You

  1. Penny says:

    “An ordinary woman exhibiting the best of humanity on one of the worst days of her life”. Nicely put Wolfie, but it’s really hard not to hate those Neo Nazi fuckers.

  2. Max Page says:

    Amen mommy.

  3. michele says:

    Thanks for putting that out there Joanne, such a proud, strong and loving mother.

  4. Mark-E says:

    Every post you make is something good in the world. Don’t sell yourself short.

  5. Dj says:

    You are a strong, compassionate mother…you have a right to grieve. Just remember you have a life to live…I love that mrs.heyer told trump not to bother to call…she’s not answering his calls….he’s such a motherfucker……

  6. Anne says:

    I don’t even know how she got up there and delivered such an incredible speech and retained her composure. What an amazing woman and mother, with such a valuable message – let us hope like hell her daughter’s death was not in vain.

  7. Suspended says:

    I have a friend in the village who is on the PTA, the cinema association, she runs event, she does those stupid fucking muddy things, she is hands on in everything. This is the type of person she is. It makes her feel connected, maybe even important. If her child died, she’d be one of the people you’ve just described.

    The fact that you are a different type of person isn’t a problem with the world. In fact, if every grieving Mother was like this there would be too many competing to be the most extraordinary and the whole situation would become ugly. You’re coping the way that works for you and that comes with no expectations.

    Stop being so tough on yourself and enjoy being you, we certainly enjoy you. You lift the moods of many every time you write.

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