I came across this opinion piece, 38 Days That Made Us Dads in the NY Times and it made me think about my own process of becoming a mother. This story struck a chord with me as I recalled when I watched my own son live the first couple of weeks of his life in the NICU, after being born five weeks prematurely. He is a healthy and happy two year old now, but the delay to bringing him home still sticks with me at times.
As the author, Corvette Hunt says, "the roles of parenthood don't fall into neat categories." Nothing about birth or finding your way through parenting is neat and tidy. Fathers, mothers, step-parents, adoptive parents, even aunts and uncles finding their way. There's so much to say about this work and process - and that's what we'll explore here on MOTHERWORK We don't know what becoming a parent will be like. Or how it will change us once it happens. Planned or unplanned. Biological or adoptive. Single, widowed, or partnered. No one is ever prepared and it takes everything you've got. For now, I'll say a huge thank you and wish love to fathers everywhere doing the work.
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What is An Artist Residency in Motherhood? ARIM was initiated by Lenka Clayton in 2012. It provides "a self-directed, open-source artist residency to empower and inspire artists who are also mothers". I will be posting my works-in-progress here throughout the residency.
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