by Danielle Christopher
The email shines in my inbox like a spotlight on a Broadway marquee. The email is from an editor I began discussions with months before about potentially contributing to her book of mothers and daughters.
In beautiful words, she welcomes me to include my essay “Motherless Mothers.” Tears spring to my eyes before I realize they are there. Through a need to get my stories out for my daughters, I began writing when my girls were mere babies.
I do not know much about my mother before she died. I am almost the age where she last celebrated a birthday.
Slowly after I started submitting guest post to parenting websites, publishers accepted. That feeling that my 
writing was worthy kept me going with a passion. It’s when the comments left on those posts and other motherless moms connecting to me made the years of isolation melt away.
I dared myself to submit and felt so honored that she included my very personal story in with the other authors. Being in print is such a rarity for this writer who started from scratch and a raw need to write.
The book that is now out is called “Wisdom Has a Voice: Every Daughter’s Memories of Mother.” It contains 25 personal stories from daughters and mothers from all over North America.
“It has been twenty-six years since my mom died and I still miss her, especially at
The holidays. I remember her sitting in the black vinyl chair, cane at her side, smiling at
us enjoying the Christmas presents. Each day is hard, and easy, all at once. I give myself
permission to embrace my grief that my children did not have their grandma and I feel
lighter. By letting go, I can begin to tell my daughters my stories of when I was a kid.”
That is just a small quote from my essay. The beauty of anthologies is that there is at least one story that a reader can connect to while reading.
A gift for my daughters turned out to be a gift to my mother. Writing about how much I miss her, I feel closer to her.
Danielle Christopher is a stay-at-home mom of two daughters, ages one and three. She blogs for The Momoir Project and writes book reviews for Women’s Post. Her teen story is in the collection “Parent/Teen Stories: Without Judgement”. She lives with her husband of seventeen years and her girls in Langley, B.C.. Follow her on Twitter.
