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Motherhood From Afar

Retired Columns

From “Life in the Sandwich” to “Special Needs Mama” to “Zen and the Art of Child Maintenance”—they’re all here for you to explore.

Fine

This is my last column at Literary Mama, marking a journey of nearly two years since I began mothering from afar. I had hoped that by now I’d have everything…

Motherhood From Afar | May 2010 | By Karen Murphy


That Must Be Hard

It’s funny, and I can say this now because I’m on the flip side most of the time, but my biggest fears in those days were about judgment. The worst…

Motherhood From Afar | February 2010 | By Karen Murphy


Sacrifice

My expression of motherhood has been one long chain of sacrifice. I didn’t plan it that way, but I can look back now and see what I created: Quitting jobs…

Motherhood From Afar | November 2009 | By Karen Murphy


Three Magic Wishes

This morning I woke up from a dream, the kind of dream that you just know is a mirror of real life. Anais Nin said once that “We write to…

Motherhood From Afar | October 2009 | By Karen Murphy


Art and a Mother’s Legacy

My mother was no artist. One day when I was eight she brought out a boxed art kit and drew fantastic trees with wonderful wild wiggly branches and roots. I…

Motherhood From Afar | August 2009 | By Karen Murphy


Breaking the Mold

Everything changed, then, when I left Pennsylvania a year ago. I stepped back from trying to be everything for my children. I left room for a distant father to become…

Motherhood From Afar | August 2009 | By Karen Murphy


Community

“Non-custodial parent? What is that?” I tensed, ready to explain my unconventional choice to someone who didn’t “get” it, and started with my standard opener. “My kids don’t live with…

Motherhood From Afar | May 2009 | By Karen Murphy


Shadow of the Blue Witch

She had blue hair. She left strands of it throughout the school for me to find, so I would know I was never safe. In my dreams she was chasing…

Motherhood From Afar | April 2009 | By Karen Murphy


The Visit

The bus lurched to a stop, its distinctive orange-yellow easily visible in my rented rear-view mirror. A knot of kids emerged and I struggled to locate my daughter in the…

Motherhood From Afar | February 2009 | By Karen Murphy


Magic

In a few days I’ll board a plane bound for Pennsylvania and my children. I’ve rented a house for the week that we’ll be spending together, so we’ll be able…

Motherhood From Afar | January 2009 | By Karen Murphy


Chasm

On Mother’s Day this year, a month before I left, I cut Nathaniel’s hair for the last time. He sat on the porch stoop in a t-shirt and shorts, shivering…

Motherhood From Afar | December 2008 | By Karen Murphy


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