Motherless Daughters Retreats

13 Feb 2024 · 2 min

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1:51

The video presents a series of testimonial excerpts from five women (Speakers A‑E) who each recount the loss of their mother at different stages of life—from early childhood to adulthood—and the profound loneliness and unresolved grief that followed. The speakers describe varied circumstances of loss, including sudden death, a prolonged coma, and suicide, and how these experiences left them feeling isolated for decades. The narrative shifts to describe how attending Hope Edelman's retreats created a supportive sisterhood, offering validation, community, and a safe space for vulnerability. Through group exercises, shared stories, and the presence of other women who have endured similar loss, participants report deep self‑understanding, emotional processing, and a transformative sense of belonging that they had not found elsewhere.

Chapters

I lost my mom at 9 years old. I was 6 years old.
I was 31.
My mom died when I was 17.
I was starting a new job and called my mom at her office to tell her I was all settled, and after a very long time on hold, the sheriff got on the phone and told me that my mother had died.
She had been in a coma for almost 4 years.
I lost my mom to suicide at age 16. I spent almost 2 decades just feeling really alone.
I had never known or been around anybody else who had experienced a loss similar to mine. I was looking for kind of validation and comfort in the wrong things, and it wasn't working, obviously.
What instead I found by going to the retreat was that I found this group of people who were my gang, who were my sisters, who were like me in more ways than any friend or family member has ever been.
Going to these retreats, talking Working with Hope and the other women really made me realize that there's a community of other women that are feeling the exact same things that I'm, that I'm going through. I was in a room where I was fully accepted.
I could be completely vulnerable. I was processing stuff that I hadn't processed in 30 years. There's a bond that you have with women. Of course, there is exercises and experiences and stories that connect you and keep you Present.
One of the most peak experiences for me to this day, going to the retreat and feeling like I understood so much about myself that I didn't understand before because I saw myself in all these other women.