I've thought that perhaps that's why women are so often…
““I've thought that perhaps that's why women are so often sad, once the child's born," she said meditatively, as though thinking aloud. "Ye think of them while ye talk, and you have a knowledge of them as they are inside ye, the way you think they are. And then they're born, and they're different - not the way ye thought of them inside, at all. And ye love them, o' course, and get to know them they way they are...but still, there's the thought of the child ye once talked to in your heart, and that child is gone. So I think it's the grievin' for the child unborn that ye feel, even as ye hold the born one in your arms.””
About This Quote
This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.
She reflects on the grief of imagined loss versus the reality of caring for a child, highlighting maternal love and disappointment.
In simple terms: Mothers mourn imagined futures as much as real ones.
Key Takeaway
Acknowledge both imagined and real grief.
Themes
motherhood
grief
expectation
Mood
reflective
melancholy
Type
philosophical
inspirational
When to use this quote
- parenting
- bereavement
- anticipatory grief
Key Concepts
psychology of loss
maternal love
Questions to Reflect On
- What expectations have you held that changed after reality arrived?
- How do you honor grief for something that never was?
A Different Perspective
Grief can be triggered by expectations, not just reality.