"...and what a priceless gift--to hold like a wild young animal another's safety in one's hand, or to place your soul in just such jeopardy, and still to be loved."
~William Gass

I wasn't looking for it, but I found it. Thinking of the women in the jail, and the parenting class I'll teach there soon, I picked it up. Mothering without a Map--the Search for the Good Mother Within. Written for those women who grew up "undermothered," it seeks to affirm what I know. We all have the capacity to be good parents, no matter how we were parented. We have to learn to search and uncover our inner gifts--to move from woundedness to healing. Anne LaMott wrote of her friend Pammy, who, living in a chaotic household, grew her own inner mother. This book chronicles how one does just such a thing. I'll start it tonight.