Mothers and Mothering

We are all born from a mother, yet no two experiences of mothering are the same. That’s the beauty of this dynamic, universal experience.

Maternal instincts aren’t limited to mothers alone — they show up in the most unexpected people and places. This weekend, I’m sharing four episodes of About Your Mother that capture just how broad and powerful maternal narratives can be.

The grandmother I would never meet. But whose love I know existed.

1. Rob Scheer — how an abusive and absent mother led to foster care and eventually foster children. Rob hasn’t seen or spoken to his mother since he was twelve. She didn’t protect him from the abuse in their home, and he grew up without so much as a birthday cake. Rather than let that absence become a wound he passed on, Rob transformed it into purpose — founding Comfort Cases, a nonprofit that has delivered over 320,000 backpacks of dignity and care to children entering foster care, and building the forever family he never had by adopting five children with his husband. His story is proof that what we didn’t receive can become the very thing we devote our lives to giving. [Listen here.]

2. Ann Fessler — AYMs most downloaded episode by far, Ann is responsible for breaking open the stories of the girls who went away. Ann spent years interviewing over a hundred women who were forced to surrender their babies in the decades before Roe v. Wade — sent away in shame, expected to return home as if nothing had happened, and silenced for decades. Her book The Girls Who Went Away cracked open a chapter of women's history long buried under the veil of family secrets. This important episode will stay with you. [Listen here.]

3. Namratha Stanley — a mother who escaped an abusive marriage and relied on family to take care of her daughter until she built a life in France surrounded by beauty, nature, and wine. Namratha spent twelve years in a controlling, abusive marriage before escaping with her daughter — and then made the heartbreaking decision to temporarily leave her daughter in the care of her family in India so she could build a new life in France. She found herself in a chateau in the countryside, studying wine, and becoming herself again for the first time in over a decade. Her memoir, Vineyard Melody, is a stunning testament to what a mother will sacrifice for freedom. [Listen here.]

4. Stephanie Maley — a testament to how mothering ourselves through abuse can be a source of resilience. Stephanie’s memoir No Longer That Girl explores a childhood marked by grooming, abuse, and the shame that kept her silent for years. What moved me most was how she speaks about her mother — with honesty and hard-won compassion, holding both truths at once: she was loved, and she didn’t receive everything she needed. Stephanie’s path to healing was found through therapy, writing, faith, and learning to love herself the way she always deserved. A reminder that resilience isn’t something we’re born with. It’s something we build. [Listen here.]

Wishing you a weekend of reflection and joy — whatever your relationship with mothering looks like. And don’t forget to mother yourself along the way.

XO J