Member-only story
The Wild Edge of Love Part 5
The Mama Bear emerges
I was gone on another work trip. It was fall, 2019. I was in Georgia for a week, then flying on to Denver for a retreat. It was my last two weeks away before COVID hit in the Spring. I was very deliberate about scheduling so as to keep things as stable as possible at home, always making meals for the fridge and doing all the laundry before I left.
Before I had left, I had noticed that the girls were on their phones more than normal. They had mentioned that their aunts, on their dad’s side, were messaging them. He had not moved out yet, even though I had asked him to long before. No matter, his sisters and one sister-in-law were talking to the girls, and to my son as well. I questioned them as to what thye were chatting about. Every one of their messages began with some variation of, “I have been thinking about you. How are you?” or “I am praying for you. I hope you are doing okay.” Every one of my children were really struggling with the conversation around the divorce although there was absolute agreement about it needing to happen. We talked openly about it. The complication was that other people had access to their phones, thus their feelings. It was like a riding a rollercoaster for them. That rollercoaster I knew well. It was how their father had forced me to live with him.
