Tender Words and Tupperwares

2026

I never understood the phrase "distance makes the heart grow fonder" until I moved out of my mother's home.

We spend so much of our young adult lives wondering if and how we'll end up like our parents. For a while, you hope that the apple does fall far from the tree.

Mothers and daughters share a particular tie, no matter where you are, you will see yourselves within each other. This was a truth I wasn't quite comfortable with until I was no longer living with my mother. It was the move that allowed me to see that aspects of my mother exist in my space, because they exist inside me. Part of our relationship that I once saw as overbearing had become pieces of her I wanted to accentuate in myself. My mother's love is kind and outspoken, it gives more than it takes and sometimes it shows up when you don't think you need it.

It is only once you become comfortable enough with yourself that you begin to realize that once it hits the ground, the apple turns to the tree to protect it from the sun.