Worst Mother Ever

I didn't know what to say when Vonnie  A. declared:

"I was the worst mother ever!"

How do you counter that?

Whatever I would say, she would refute and tell me why she felt that way.

Her mind was made up.

She had specific examples of how she felt she had failed.

What makes women beat ourselves up?

Vonnie A. had been to visit a friend whose son was is the hospital.  The mother had stayed by his side for two days and nights. Vonnie A. said, "I was never there for my kids."

"And now, we don't communicate much, either."  She was downcast.

Our baptismal covenants say we are to bear one another's burdens.  But, sometimes it's very hard - not because we aren't willing, but because we don't know what to say, how to react, how to help.

And, so I listened politely to Vonnie A.

And, if I get points for having an aching heart, that would have been moi.