My Mama
Daughters of Alcoholic Mothers
“Remember, you are not alone in this room and you are not alone across time.”
Bryan Doerries – Theater of War
“God! When I think about the generations of women on our family tree who slipped on the butter milk!” Prisons and jails are populated by women who missed the primal, caregiver bond with their mothers. With such an upbringing, they struggle to bond with their own sons and daughters. And so it can move through the generations.
Hypervigilance, pretense, silence, dread and self-doubt trap the lives of daughters of alcoholic mothers. These little girls’ futures are often frantic attempts to fill the void. The loneliness of never knowing one’s true self becomes a desperate longing, a search to find someone—anyone - who will define and love me.
Jill’s literally shocking story is one of walking the razor’s edge with an alcoholic mother and a father dedicated to cover-up. She credits her healing, in part, to a life-saving book: My Mama’s Waltz by Eleanor Agnew and Sharon Robideaux - A Book for Daughters of Alcoholic Mothers. It broke open the secrets, legitimized her confusion and fears, and offered a way out of chaos. She found a home amidst millions of women whose lives mirrored her own.
In this story we will meet Jill - a woman now recovered from her own substance use disorders and connected crimes. Having discovered the vocation for which she is perfectly suited, she is a woman enlightened by her past.