#for impact

[thethoughtsofafangirl]

for you

[quarantine-stories]

Dear stranger,

Ever since I was young, the only person who gave me affection regularly was my mother. Sometimes my grand-mothers would also be affectionate, but I didn't see them as much so it wasn't the same thing. My father would rarely show me any type of affection because that is the kind of man that he was raised to be. I could discuss the underlying problem of educating men to bottle up and hide their emotions but that is not what today's post is about.

As a teenager, I would reject any type of affection coming from anyone because it made me uncomfortable, but thankfully, that passed after high school. I say thankfully because becoming more affectionate with my mother made our bond stronger during her last years.

In the last few days of her life, all I would do was hug her. She couldn't move or talk so that is all we managed to do. I am telling this story because, now that she is dead, the natural process of grief has caught up to me, and I've began to miss her. Her death has left a void so big in my life that I don't even know how I will be able to fill it. I have been realizing that once the pandemic is over (if it ever ends), she would still be gone and I would still be motherless. You would think that it would be obvious since I was there when she died and when she was buried, but it has been hard to realize it.

I will be motherless and I won't get any affection. Well, I probably will, but not in the same way. Receiving affection from her gave me a sense a safety, like nothing else could hurt me in that moment. I won't ever get that feeling back, and it hurts.

So, if I have two pieces of cliché advice to give to anyone who is lucky enough to be close to their parents: don't be shy to show them that you love them. There are more ways than just saying "I love you". And, most importantly, be open and be ready to accept the affection that they are willing to give you because one day it will matter.

[uswnt5]

Name one midfielder from this roster that you’d leave off the WC roster so Allie Long could make it?