Last week I attending a "Trauma Mama" retreat from Wednesday through Sunday, it was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. 25 moms (one is missing from this picture) from all over the country attended. Mom's with kids who have experienced trauma for different reasons but all have issues because of it. These were moms with different race, religion, beliefs and at different stages of healing their children, and somehow it felt like family. I have never felt understood, loved and accepted by 24 near strangers before in my life, yet these women embraced me. These faces, are the faces of the bravest most devoted and giving moms I have ever met. No one else has understood what it is like to parent a child who hates herself so much that she peels the skin off of her own body, is filled with so much pain, hurt and anger that she screams for hours (and in some cases days) because it is too much. No one else understands that in order to help our kids we have to retrain them, which means breaking old habits and building from new. How hard it is to be pouring all of our time, energy, blood, sweat and tears into a child who gives nothing but hurt in return, Or what it feels like to judged by every move you make with these kids, because what you have to do to help them heal is out of the normal realm of parenting. These women understand what it is like to love unconditionally, and to attempt like the Phoenix to raise ourselves and our children from the ashes of trauma. We are hope rising.
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