My mother painted and wrote through all of her adventures which included traveling and raising children. As her only daughter I am embarrassed to admit how critical I was of her. I wanted my Mom to promote herself more. I wanted her to speak up to my father differently. I wanted her to work bigger and to overflow her notebooks. But as I look through her work and her words I realize that as much as I was disparaging of her — she is so much of the impetus for what I do and how I try to go forward. I see some faults and want to do better. Yet it has finally occurred to me that maybe that is the sign of a great teacher, letting her child/student feel empowered to do better in the world.
‘I am your own way of looking at things,’ she said. ‘When you allow me to live with you, every glance at the world around you will be a sort of salvation.’ And I took her hand.
–William Stafford, from “When I Met My Muse,” You Must Revise Your Life (University of Michigan Press, 1991)