Most of us, whether we are sons, daughters or mothers have experienced the indescribable bond between mother and child.
From the moment we are born, the union between mother and child is severed – the umbilical cord is cut and we are sent screaming, cold and frightened into an unknown universe.
As babies adjust to their new form and recognize they are separate entities, they begin to experience both the joy and the terrifying frustration of being alive and being completely dependent on their caretaker.
As teenagers (in healthy families) this dependency gradually tapers off as the child begins to recognize her own separate identity and (if she is lucky) her own calling.
In my novel The Gossamer Thread the Angel of Prayer makes the conscious choice to release her daughter, Feather, who makes the difficult choice to detach herself from her mother’s wings and plummet to earth, responding to a rabbi’s prayers. Although she recognizes the pain her daughter will endure, she knows that she must release her for she cannot prohibit her daughter’s calling.
With Mother’s Day approaching, let us all honor our mother’s – who from the moment we were born both embraced and released us, knowing that the deepest love is that love, which both teaches and releases.
The following is an excerpt from The Gossamer Thread describing the Feather’s difficult choice to leave her mother:
As she caught a glimpse of the angel’s tear-stained eyes, Feather wished that she could make her mother understand all of the powerful emotions that were traveling through her tiny being. For a brief second, she snuggled close against her mother’s warm skin, feeling the familiar love and security that she always experienced when the angel was near. Here, it felt safe, uncomplicated and comfortable, a place no evil or harm could ever find her. Yet the lone voice carried itself throughout her body, drawing her downward with a force over which she no longer control. And she began to recognize that for whatever reason, the hypnotic prayer had now taken over and any of her own resolve to stay attached to her mother had all but disappeared.
It was then that Feather heard the familiar sound of her mother’s calming voice whispering something over and over again—something that she would never forget. The words floated above her like the halo that was always suspended above her mother’s head. And almost instantly, the Feather felt a shift in the energy around her.
As her mother whispered she began to pick up speed, flying downward faster and faster. Feather noticed the blue-green planet getting closer and closer. Was her mother trying to fly as near to Earth as possible to make her journey less frightening?
A strange sensation entered Feather’s body, a feeling that if she were to let go, she would be able to fly on her own. She noticed the air becoming thick, like a magical serum that held her as if she were in her mother’s arms. She glanced at the angel one last time, then closed her eyes and told Source, her mother, her brothers and sisters and everyone she knew in the Universe that what she was about to do was meant for the good of the world. And with this last prayer she took a deep breath, allowing the cosmic wind to rush through her small frame.
A jerk began at the bottom of her spine and journeyed upward through her entire body as she began to shake and cry. She screamed as she felt the warmness of her mother leave her, and she experienced a terrifying chill as she drifted head-first into the shadows, into the Holocaust below, into the hands of the rabbi calling to her from his dark corner of the world.