My mother always thought if her mother hadn't left her, she would have been happy. All the problems she had never would have happened.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
There's a part of me that never felt my mother abandoned me. I always felt that she did the right thing.
I found out when I was 18 that Dad had left my mother and the family before he realised he was ill and then died. When I asked Mum about it, she just sort of shrugged it off and said she'd thought I knew about it all along. Of course I hadn't, though I'm sure she must have been desperately unhappy at the time.
I had to go on without my mother, even though I was suffering terribly, grieving her.
I'm sure that my mom would have been happy with any path I chose.
But I still always felt the absence of a mother.
My mother couldn't have been happier when I said I was moving to New York.
I wish I had a great relationship with my mother.
My mother left behind three daughters when she went to America and started a new life. I certainly felt abandoned when my father died of a brain tumour; I felt he had abandoned me to this terrible, volatile mother and I had no protection.
My mom always told me one of the reasons that she was really happy in her life was that, if Dad never worked again, she was confident that she could support the family.
My mother is a big believer in being responsible for your own happiness. She always talked about finding joy in small moments and insisted that we stop and take in the beauty of an ordinary day. When I stop the car to make my kids really see a sunset, I hear my mother's voice and smile.