#10 The Real Deal

The unknown.

Courtney and Kai provided a great conclusion to our class yesterday with their presentations, and left us all with a great thought to wrap up with: the unknown. I realized, if anything, that is what has scared us throughout this course. It is not knowing what goes on in childbirth...or the day to day duties of mothering...basically no practical knowledge of anything motherly.


This semester we've seen some horrible mothers and some terrifying children:

1. We've sympathized with Frankenstein's monster, as he terrorizes society because of his abandonment issues. ..
2. Freaked ourselves out with the story of Ben in The Fifth Child; the scariest child ever, by no real fault of his parents...
3. Watched in disbelief as Katherine abandons her husband and child in The South and finds love in Spain, only to be deprived by the death of her new husband and child---all the while, she endures all of this as emotionless as a log...
4. Studied the "problem with no name" that plagued many of our motherly predecessors in the '50s and subsequent decades--the inability to put a name to the emptiness they felt trapped within their home and role as mother...
5. Seen the danger of perhaps loving too much in Beloved...
6. Discussed the details of birth after reading "Giving Birth" ...
7. Suffered with Wayne and his family in Annabel as they tried to come to terms with an abnormal situation...

...and through all of that, many would think we've seen a pretty bleak view of motherhood. But I would argue that the scariest part of this class was actually reflecting on what I don't know about being a mother. For me, it gave new meaning to the phrase "knowledge is power." 

I've had to consider things that I had never before thought about. Instead of fearing the hard parts and things that could go wrong, everything we have read and talked about has made me for more prepared--empowered, if you will.

This class has caused me to read more literature dealing with mothers, and to remain more aware of moms in the news and in day to day life.

It isn't the stories or information that is scary about being a mother ourselves. It is what we don't know. And now I feel empowered enough to believe that I can do it.