Listen to Your Mother

I can't believe that I haven't mentioned it here yet, but I am thrilled to be part of the cast for LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER:MADISON this weekend -- Sunday -- MOTHER'S DAY -- May 8 at 3:00pm at The Barrymore. Billed as 'readings by local writers on motherhood', the show is so much more than the feel-good mushiness of a greeting card. Creator, director and producer Ann Imig explains it beautifully on the Listen to Your Mother Show blog, and I share a few of her words here below:

LTYM, like motherhood, is about process over product. It is not about polish, but rather about that unfinished, unvarnished, authentic beauty that happens when you make room for something bigger by letting go. The spirit of LTYM exists all around us—in that one friend you tell how you really are today, in an experienced mom leveling with a new mom about how NO ONE really knows the answers, in that moment when you understand for the first time why your Mom was tense so much of the time, because now you are too. The task of the LTYM shows is to provide the space where we can live that energy, that commonality, and those moments together out loud.

As bloggers we’re inundated with stories of honesty and vulnerability. This dialogue does not take place with such prevalence--and out in the open for all to see--in our real parenting lives. Many people who will come to see an LTYM show or watch the videos online do not have people in their life who will offer up their truth as a gift for anyone willing to listen.

Like life and motherhood, LTYM’s light is in the cracks—at this jagged edge--that vulnerable space we don’t plan for, and maybe even try to erase in pursuit of perfection. We’ve all done our work. Now let’s go give this gift, and leave that package split wide open, rough edges exposed, bow untied--ribbon unfurled, splayed and split--fragments weaving from the stage, up and down the aisles, to every person and out the doors and into our cities.

Our communities need it, and so do we.

Happy Mother's Day, Mamas.
If you're local, I hope to see you there. 


(click here for ticket info)