ABSTRACT
With the death of their mothers, daughters often feel pulled in two opposite directions by the need to preserve the past and the desire to look ahead to the future. By this stage of their lives, most women have become quite good at the balancing act between keeping and letting go. They started learning this lesson with their children, perhaps husbands and lovers, even jobs and homes. The period surrounding her mother's death is an especially important time for a daughter to be able to find a satisfying balance as she finds ways to value the past even while moving into the next life stage.
