Communication

In the novel, “Dearly Beloved,” by Ann Morrow Lindbergh, there is a moving passage in which Deborah, the mother, is adjusting the wedding veil for Sally, her daughter. They have lived in the same house for twenty years but never really enjoyed deep sharing or real communication. And the mother is feeling this very deeply on her daughter’s wedding day. With great feeling, Ann Morrow Lindbergh describes the scene:

Deborah went to her daughter, kissed her lightly on the forehead and hesitated for a moment, looking urgently, almost pleadingly into her wide eyes. Wasn’t there something she could say at this moment, mother to daughter, something real? Sally, too, seemed to be pleading, asking for confirmation. ‘Your father will be up in a moment,’ Deborah blurted in a rush.” That was all she could say. The words for something deeper never came. The real thing never got said. That’s the commentary on life for so many of us in marriage, in the family, and…