Fight. Dream. Hope. Love. Lessons from Les Misérables
The moment the nurse laid my newborn son’s swaddled body next to my pillow, I looked into his eyes and a guttural sound rose from my belly, up my throat and out my mouth – like the sound a cow makes when her calf is just moments old. The PRIMAL SOUND rose - deeper than any cognitive behavior – linked to the rising tide of my emotions as surely as my son had been linked by umbilical cord to my body. At first, I didn’t even recognize the sounds as my own. Without analyzing, I FELT motherhood. I was alive with the power of it, ANIMATED by my son – by his scent, his shape, his features, his whimpering, by the vibration of his vocal chords when he howled. His entire physical presence vibrated within me in a different way than it had when he was in my womb, and in a way I would later learn to recognize in cows and ewes. Watching and listening to the new musical film production of Les Misérables , my body reacted in a similar way. I felt th...