[lalgee]

I got this book on amazon used for less than $7 for hardback, and I am absolutely devouring it! I can't put it down.

Like so many in the book who share stories, it never dawned on me that anyone else had the same experiences that I did! And, I didn't realize what effects the "don't talk about it, don't even think about it, go on as if it never happened" had on me. I am seeing so many areas that I thought were just the way I was, but now I see everything EVERYTHING has to do with that experience and the lack of emotional processing that was done. To this day I am stuffing it down so far it wont ever come out.

I found out later in life that my mother also had a child she surrendered, and she was exactly from the era that the book discusses, so this is really helping me to understand what she went thru and why she reacted the way she did when I went thru it. She was only telling me what she had been told and experienced - she didn't know any other way. I surrendered in '83, and she in '65. You would think it would have brought us closer together, but we have never talked about it again since it happened, not even once. I have a very distant relationship with my mom now - and this explains everything. The whole subject is taboo, you don't dare bring it up - too shameful.

I love the way this book alternates between stories of those who relinquished and the great statistical data and societal norms of that day. I have gained more understanding and healing from the first half of this book in 1 week than I have since I surrendered my son 24 years ago.

thanks to all of you on this forum for encouraging me to read it. thank you!!

Lynda