"What do we glean from the stories of other women?
What am I gleaning in the furrows of my mother's journals?
I forage for the details left, overlooked, discarded. I will use everything in this story she has given me before her death and afterward to find out what is there and what is not there, and then begin culling the grain from the chaff, savoring what is essential.
Mother gave me my voice by withholding hers, both in life and in death. Her creativity presided in her home. She spoke through gestures, largely quiet and graceful. A letter. A meal. A walk together. Her touch. She lived on a private elegant plain.
Mimi gave me my voice by proclaiming hers: directly, honestly, and, at times, shockingly. When Brooke and I went to tell her we were getting married, she said, 'How wonderful! And if it doesn't work out, you can always get a divorce.'
But I believe my own voice continues to be found wherever I am being present and responding from my heart, moment by moment. My voice is born repeatedly in the fields of uncertainty."
-Except from Mary Tempest William's "When Women Were Birds: Fifty Four Variations on Voice"
Allium Bud: Tears
Rocky Mountain Columbine: Cuckold, Capricuousness, and Folly (or image of doves as Shane Connolly suggests)
Sir Winston Churchill Daffodil: Chivalry
Bramley Apple Blossom: Repentance
Strawberries: Perfect Goodness, Excellence
Quince: Temptation
Resource for flower meanings from "Discovering the Language of Flowers" by the ever thoughtful Shane Connolly
Musical Inspiration: Sting's "They Dance Alone"
