Just Before My Mom Died, She Said 6 Words That Changed My Life — And Made Me A Better Mother

The author on her wedding day with her mother Courtesy of Ann Batchelder “Your granddaughter needs to go to a hospital in Nashville for her depression,” I told my 95-year-old mother. When I’d get up to leave, we often hugged a long time, rubbing each other’s backs while whispering “I love you.” We never talked about what was really going on with my daughter, but I could tell my mother sensed there was more to the story than I’d provided. Instead, she said six words that changed my life: “You’re going to get through this.” It was the first time my mother had ever expressed her belief in me without adding some little quip or comment about ways I could still improve. Instead, I held her hand and said six words: “You’re going to get through this.” While I was in Nashville, my mother suffered a major stroke. Ann Batchelder is the author of “Craving Spring: A Mother’s Quest, a Daughter’s Depression, and the Greek Myth that Brought Them Together.” She was editor of Fiberarts Magazine, guest curator for major contemporary exhibitions at the Asheville Art Museum, and Director of Special Events for the Brooklyn Academy of Music.