Traveling with Pomegranates
By: Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kid Taylor
I wasn't sure that I would like this book when I first read the publisher's summary, but because my own relationship with my daughter was changing, I wanted to find a mother-daughter tale that may resonate, to my great surprise. I DID! This book is a great collaboration by a mother/ daughter duo.
When I say this most of you will initially say that people cannot come of age after 20 years old, but I beg to differ. This book is much like a coming of age story for both mother and daughter. It was the story of a mother finding herself in her new role as a mother to an adult child, while her daughter was coming of age and learning how to be an adult with all the trappings that comes with it. Both Sue and Ann are on a quest to find who they are at the given time. It just happens that they do this through travel. Their travel gives them a perfect place to nurture their creative sides and reconnect with each other.
Ann is struggling with the age-old question every college graduate faces post graduation. “what do I do now”? Sue is struggling with the thought of aging. The mother and daughter both find that by traveling through France and Greece a rich symbolism is shown to them through the story of Demeter and Persephone. The story turns very rich and symbolic with great personal meaning.
This book showed me how a mother and daughter do not have to grow apart just because the daughter is getting older. Sometimes we as mothers forget that while our children are growing older, we are as well, and it tends to hit us all at once. We focus so much on the day to day with our children whom we do not realize until it is upon us that they have grown up. This book helped me to see that my relationship with my children wasn't being lost, but instead it was coming out of its cocoon state so that my children could be the beautiful butterflies that I raised them to be. My daughter moved out into her first apartment last week, and I couldn't be prouder. The fact that I read this book helped me into the transition gracefully. Now I have a child whom I no longer see as my baby but as my daughter who is fully capable of making decisions and handling life because she was given the correct tools when she was younger.
For any mother sending her children (especially girls) into the world to become the adults they are meant to be, this is a must-read book, that will help you through the transition.
I just want to thank Sue and Ann for sharing their stories with all of us. My life is better because of it.
