E.A. Hanks was single until 39, unable to fall in love until after she finished writing a book about her mother, who died 20 years earlier. The writing let her shed protective roles and shame about her upbringing, finally opening space for someone else in her life.
39
20 years
So I was basically single my entire life up until I was 39, and I was only able to fall in love once I finished this book, which is basically me saying to my mom, I love you to the moon and stars and back. But I'm also not ashamed of how I grew up anymore. And I don't need to protect you anymore, and you don't need to be protected anymore. So I'm gonna tell the story of what our life was like together. And I think letting her go 20 years after she died and all of the therapeutic work that went into me being able to write again and to write this book and to finish it and to put it out into the world was like this great kind of.
Shaking off of dust in a big, beautifully empty room where suddenly there and, like, the doors were opened and the sheets were pulled off all the beautiful old furniture, and suddenly there's fresh air. And it was like I had finally left the crumbling mansion of my childhood and could invite someone into my space. Not my mother's house, but my.
