On Forgiveness

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At The Heart Of The Matter, Joan Z. Rough, Copyright, 2005

This is what I do know:  until you forgive someone as close as a mother, you are at war with yourself, you continue to gnaw that leg of yours caught in a trap.  Why are you at war with yourself?  I think because to hold a grudge against another person you have to recognize in them a quality that you yourself possess but can’t admit to.

Mary Rose O’Reilley, The Love of Impermanent Things, A Threshold Ecology

I’m reading this book for the second time.  Although I loved it the first time around, I don’t think I was ready for it.  I was in the midst the final year of my mother’s life. I was gnawing on my own leg. Blind. Unable to see what was before me.

I refound this marvelous book a few days ago, going through one of those unpacked boxes left from our move over a year ago.  Still trying to purge, I was looking for books I could part with.  Books I could take to the library for their big sale in March. But this one will stay with me. Within it, the words speak to my heart and I am finding myself.