Strength in numbers

These days, it’s hard to remember that there are strength in numbers. We are so separated physically from one another, in Ottawa, we’re in lockdown again to prevent further spread of COVID-19. It’s hard to know how to connect sometimes with others, particularly when grief so often separates us.

I have been so comforted by the community I have found and become part of creating through the Motherlove Project. I read and re-read the stories sometimes to remind me that I’m not alone in my grief, as you are not alone in yours.

The experience of becoming a motherless daughter seems far more common than we realize. I have seen so many photos on Instagram of women grieving their mothers, old and young. It is heartbreaking. But it also brings me great comfort to know that there is strength in our numbers.

We may not have met each other in real life or know each other’s friends or families. But we do know about the loss of someone so important in our lives, so fundamental to who we are. Despite our differences, geography, language, religion and culture, we have a shared understanding of what it means to still need our mothers and to miss them every day.