Summary Of Letting Go By Mary Cantwell

Letting Go: Mary Cantwells Childhood Mary Cantwell grew up in a 3 story Victorian style house. Growing up in that home she had a big family, pets, and everything a child needs; the ideal family home. Although it was an ideal home, Mary disliked it. The house she grew up in was filled with childhood memories, memories that she still hasn’t gotten over. Now that most of her family has passed and her home is being sold, this can either make or break Mary. Mary needs to have the courage to be independent and not be too comfortable being dependent on her family. She can make something positive out of letting letting go of her old home and move on from her past, or she can choose to let the past keep affecting her life. Now that the house is gone, Mary does not have a place to hide from her responsibilities, she will be forced to become an independent adult. Cantwell writes, “As long as it was the place to which I fled whenever my life as an adult became too hard to bear, I was immured in childhood.” Mary was using her home as a place to …show more content…
Cantwell writes “ I was also incapable of calling the apartments in which I lived with my husband and, later, my children ‘home’. Home was where members of my family, some who were long gone, were forever baking apple pies, smoking pipes while patting the dog…” She was looking for the same love she had growing up. Even though she had a family of her own she felt there was something missing. Cantwell writes “An unhappy chilldhood can cripple but so can a blessed one as mine. You go through life with the sense something has been mislaid, something you think that, with luck, you can find again. Only you can’t, because what your looking for is unconditional love.” Mary’s family had always been there for her so when some they passed away she was affected deeply. With this being said these are obstacles people must go through in