The Prison Perspective Speech. Motherhood Edition….

In prison, when I saw a mother who was suffering from being apart from her children, I would give her this little speech.

 It went like this..... the recipe for becoming an extraordinary adult often (and I mean so often) involves hardship as a child. Your child is no doubt suffering because you aren't there. But they are with people who love them. They are being fed and cared for. They're ok in the circumstance. This ...THIS... is the hardship you would pick if you had the opportunity to pick one. For them to be separated from their mother.  You wouldn't pick childhood molestation, or childhood cancer, or your children being raised in a war-torn country. You would pick this. This very thing.

 Be grateful! They will be fine! ….And you will too.

And now, today, I know this is true. I only have to look at my own grown children-who are indeed extraordinary.