My mother and I have had a hard couple of years. Our relationship is no short story but I will try to spare pages worth of history.
A couple years ago, my husband and I were blessed with a beautiful baby girl. As many know, being new parents is not easy. The stresses of such a big life change, mixed with my mother's personality disorder did not meld well. Many times we found ourselves at odds with how the parenting should go and how many visits should have happened during the week with each other. We obviously wanted to choose our own parenting strategies and she just wanted to be part of this new journey so bad that her emotions often got out of hand.
The strains of these disagreements got so bad that I went to a therapist. After several sessions, he suggested we not talk for a while until some specific things happened. It was a very hard time for both of us, painful. That's when I bought my first Giving Key. It said STRENGTH because that's what I really needed to get through the time without my mother. I knew my therapist would guide me through the next steps but many days that was easier said than done.
Luckily things began to change as my mom reached out asking if we could make things right. We sat down, shared our concerns and put together a plan for reconciliation. Now, a year later, our relationship has been healthier and better than ever. To commemorate the great strides we've made together, I bought us matching Giving Keys for Mother's Day. They say RESTORE.
- Jillian
