My emotions of late have been deep and painful: horror, shock, grief... My
mind keeps turning to the lives lost, the grieving families, the hate and
prejudice which make such things possible. Today I have been especially
thinking of the family and friends I hold dear. How grateful I am to have
them in my life. It occurred to me that I met most of my closest friends
because I was a nursing mother seeking support and connection. I don't
think I realized just how important such companionship was until I became a
mother. Through these relationships I have had the support that I needed to
learn how to be connected with my daughter--I will forever treasure the
emotional and physical closeness that she and I have experienced through
breastfeeding. Through these relationships I also am teaching my daughter
how to be connected with others, to share joys, to share sorrows, to be
vulnerable, to be strong.

In these last two days, I have found it extremely difficult to concentrate
on my work. Yet I have also taken comfort in it: it is something tangible
through which I try to help make the world a better place. We are all doing
that: the importance of breastfeeding support to real mothers and children
cannot be overestimated. Its impact reverberates far beyond the
mother-nursling pair.

Cynthia

Cynthia Good Mojab, MS Clinical Psychology
(Breastfeeding mother, advocate, independent [cross-cultural] researcher
and author; freelance writer; LLL Leader and Research Associate in the LLLI
Publications Department; and former psychotherapist currently busy
nurturing her own little one.)
Ammawell
Email: [log in to unmask]
Web site: http://members.home.net/ammawell

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