Mom’s Pen: A Daughter’s Resilience Breaks the Cycle of Family Abuse and Dysfunction

Family Secrets, Trauma, and a Grandma’s love. In Mom’s Pen, the author reveals how a ‘normal’ family can hide harsh realities within the home. Domestic abuse can lie hidden in plain sight, and it most often does. Women find themselves trapped in a vicious cycle and they normalize pain and agony. Children in such families are hit the worst, but love from just one person can shield them. Posie narrates an honest story of her trauma, her relationship with her parents, and grandma, and ultimately her decision to heal herself.

Her mother’s pen emerges as the symbol of optimism and hope. Posie reflects on her childhood in the 1970s and the impact of her unresolved trauma more than three decades later. She shares profound insights about acknowledging, accepting, and taking action towards self-healing. A deeply moving story of the violence that is often hidden in families, families that live next door or sit next to you at church. It shares how the author, as an adult, struggled with her past while trying to please everyone around her.

The author weaves memories of her childhood with entries from her journals to share her struggle to protect her own children, connect with a special grandma through letters, and do the hard work of reconciling with her past.

This story gives insight into the complexities of family relationships and how each generation impacts the next. The author shares the methods she used to reconcile with her past and regain joy in her life. No family is perfect; some are deeply flawed but hide it well. Left hidden the flaws become normalized and get passed on to the next generation.