I am the daughter of survivors

Think about all the challenges humans have faced throughout evolution.

Starvation. Invasion. Injury. Infection. Attack. Accidents.

And yet, here we are.

We are here, you and I, because our mothers lived long enough to bring us into the world. And their mothers survived and their mothers before them.

We inherited the DNA of survivors.

Whatever your family suffered through, whether that’s slavery, war or the Holocaust, your bloodline was not snuffed out. The women who delivered you here endured.

When your mother was born, she carried in her infant body all the eggs she would ever produce. The egg that would one day become you formed inside her while she grew inside her mother.

I never met my mother’s mother. She had cancer while she was pregnant with my mom, and she died when my mother was an infant. But she carried my egg, inside my mom, and she brought us both to life.

On Mother’s Day, I give thanks to the survivor women who brought me here:

Colleen and Mom
My mom, Linda Newvine Pussehl, lived long enough to see me marry John 20 years ago. She died less than a year later.
Grandma Ann
My mother’s mother, Anna (Pewinski) Hayes, had three daughters. My mom was the youngest. Anna died when my mom was an infant. If she hadn’t lived long enough to bring my mom into the world, I wouldn’t be here.
Pewinski 2
Rose (McCoy) Pewinski, being a good Polish Catholic, gave birth to a huge brood.  Eventually she had 15 kids, I believe my grandma Anna was number nine. They were poor immigrants in northern Michigan but they scrapped and scraped, and Anna lived to be my grandmother.

I’m grateful to the women of GirlTrek, who shared this powerful notion at the Women & Power Conference last summer. It has brought me great comfort during this pandemic to feel that I have genetics on my side, and that I can make it through because the women before me were survivors.

Happy Mother’s Day!

I'm Colleen Newvine, and I would love to help you navigate your evolution or revolution
Let’s work together

1 Comment

  • Rachele Aives
    Posted November 29, 2020 4:54 am 1Likes

    Midnight email scrolling led me to this beautiful testament to our common thread of female strength, perseverance, hope and light. Thank you Colleen, your story fans the embers of that torch passed on in all of us.
    It reminded me that everything will be okay, even when it’s not okay.
    Giving birth is more than just skin and bone, it creates passion, courage and light that breathes renewal into the world.
    Deep bow sister
    xoxo
    Rachele

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