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To be honest, even though I admire Marchiano and appreciate her work deeply, I did not intend to read her book. My children’s rejection of me as a mother and the re-writing of their childhood framing me as their oppressor has been deeply painful and has resulted in my reframing myself as no longer a mother. By the end of this interview I was in tears as I realized that my experience of motherhood and the deep changes those long years have worn into the fabric of my life are my own. They are not dependent on the evaluation of any other person. Thank you both for this interview, and thank you, Lisa, for interpreting so deeply the experience of motherhood.

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I resonate with Lisa's words that the more you individuate, the more ordinary you may feel.

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I am not a mother (well, not to any humans), but I got so much out of this! It helped me understand more deeply the relationship I have have with my mother and the way in which the separation of me growing up and leaving home affected us both emotionally. We both had mental health breakdowns (for lack of a better word) when I was 19, fell in love, came out as a lesbian, and moved in with my partner (20 years later and we are still together!). My mother and I are, and always have been, extremely close because I had life threatening asthma as a child. She was a nurse and she literally brought me back to life with CPR multiple times. I was born and survived multiple near death experiences because of her, and that made the letting go of my adulthood traumatic for both of us. I don't think that it is talked about enough in our culture. The impact of these Demeter/Persephone moments are deeply felt and inevitable in all mother/daughter relationships. Thank you both so much for this interview!

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