Curious Reads: When the word "mother" no longer fits

For those in mourning on Mother's Day

Hello friend, Liz here.

#1 Today’s top of the fold story is Mother’s day—specifically, an essay I wrote for the Christian Century reflecting on my work as a birth doula and on child loss.

“We need a word for mothers whose children have died” by Liz Charlotte Grant

Painting by Alice Neel, “Mother and Child,” 1982

I am a mother who is estranged from her mother. So, I have a zillion confusing feelings about Mother’s Day. The expectations of the day can feel crushing when you grow up in a dysfunctional household. After having my own two children, I felt the tug familiar many moms feel of wanting to be celebrated, to have the day be about ME MYSELF AND I, to make the day into the one day of the year when I would be adequately “recognized.”

But that doesn’t work either, does it? Laying on thick expectations for our children (or partners!) leads nowhere good, whatever generation you come from.

Instead, Mother’s day has become a time in which I’ve chosen to reflect on my experience of motherhood…