Wow...you are an amazing writer. I look forward to keeping up with this journey. Intriging, thought provoking and very honest. I'm learning a lot, on how to find my own voice and confront my family secrets. Thank you so much for sharing this.
Thank you so much. That means the world to me. I hope you continue to find my writing helpful. There's a lot of story to tell! It took me a lifetime to find my own voice and now that I have, I look forward to sharing it with others.
These lines: "I wish I could give that to you. I wish I could let you know that I know. I wish we could talk about it, so you could know I forgive you for lying to me about who I am." What a step, what a gift. What a moment of truth. Anne-Marie
Annette, again (and again) you teach me/us how to risk being real. I don’t know if you’re familiar with him, but Presbyterian minister/theologian Frederick Buechner, in his memoir “Telling Secrets” talks about how we must tell our secrets to become whole, and that the secrets we have are telling about us as people.
And recently I came across this piece about secrets:
What we remember, wrote the poet who was my first teacher of the art, can be changed. What we forget we are always. Dick was right: we live the stories we tell; the stories we don’t tell live us. What you don’t allow yourself to know controls and determines; whatever’s held to the light “can be changed”—not the facts, of course, but how we understand them, how we live with them. Everyone will be filled by grief, distorted by sorrow; that’s the nature of being a daughter or a son, as our parents are also. What matters is what we learn to make of what happens to us. And we learn to make, I think, by telling. —Mark Doty, Firebird
Just a couple of my favorite secret quotes to bolster you, if you need it, in this amazing work you are doing.
Thank you so much, Lisa. I’ve read some of Buechner but you’ve reminded me to look back at his memoir. And I appreciate the quotes. It’s definitely valuable to get bolstering! It’s hard stuff to dig up this pain, my mother’s, my father’s, and my own. But I feel called to do it and I can’t avoid it any longer. As always, thanks for your reading my work and your support.
Thanks so much, Gloria. That means a lot. “Down to earth and real” with some color and details thrown in is my goal. I appreciate hearing that I’ve hit the mark!
Wow, this is beautiful Annette. I’m so glad you're risking being vulnerable. I can already tell this will be a memoir that we readers will identify with and love.
Thanks so much, Maj-Britt. That’s the hope even though I have to take some deep breaths every now and then. Vulnerability has never been my strong suit!
So touching!
Thank you, Skylar. I appreciate you reading it.
Wow...you are an amazing writer. I look forward to keeping up with this journey. Intriging, thought provoking and very honest. I'm learning a lot, on how to find my own voice and confront my family secrets. Thank you so much for sharing this.
Thank you so much. That means the world to me. I hope you continue to find my writing helpful. There's a lot of story to tell! It took me a lifetime to find my own voice and now that I have, I look forward to sharing it with others.
These lines: "I wish I could give that to you. I wish I could let you know that I know. I wish we could talk about it, so you could know I forgive you for lying to me about who I am." What a step, what a gift. What a moment of truth. Anne-Marie
Thanks, Anne-Marie. I appreciate your response. my entire motivation for writing this all comes down to those lines.
Annette, again (and again) you teach me/us how to risk being real. I don’t know if you’re familiar with him, but Presbyterian minister/theologian Frederick Buechner, in his memoir “Telling Secrets” talks about how we must tell our secrets to become whole, and that the secrets we have are telling about us as people.
And recently I came across this piece about secrets:
What we remember, wrote the poet who was my first teacher of the art, can be changed. What we forget we are always. Dick was right: we live the stories we tell; the stories we don’t tell live us. What you don’t allow yourself to know controls and determines; whatever’s held to the light “can be changed”—not the facts, of course, but how we understand them, how we live with them. Everyone will be filled by grief, distorted by sorrow; that’s the nature of being a daughter or a son, as our parents are also. What matters is what we learn to make of what happens to us. And we learn to make, I think, by telling. —Mark Doty, Firebird
Just a couple of my favorite secret quotes to bolster you, if you need it, in this amazing work you are doing.
Thank you so much, Lisa. I’ve read some of Buechner but you’ve reminded me to look back at his memoir. And I appreciate the quotes. It’s definitely valuable to get bolstering! It’s hard stuff to dig up this pain, my mother’s, my father’s, and my own. But I feel called to do it and I can’t avoid it any longer. As always, thanks for your reading my work and your support.
I love your writing. It is always colorful and detailed, plus down to earth and real.
Thanks so much, Gloria. That means a lot. “Down to earth and real” with some color and details thrown in is my goal. I appreciate hearing that I’ve hit the mark!
Wow, this is beautiful Annette. I’m so glad you're risking being vulnerable. I can already tell this will be a memoir that we readers will identify with and love.
Thanks so much, Maj-Britt. That’s the hope even though I have to take some deep breaths every now and then. Vulnerability has never been my strong suit!