Anne Lamott – Limping After Loss
After You Lose Someone You Love, You Walk With a Limp
Anne Lamott wrote an article for O magazine, about losing someone you can’t live without. She compared it to a broken leg: you heal, but you’ll always walk with a limp.
I found this passage when researching Madonna for See Jane Soar. Here’s what Oprah said to Madonna during an interview:
“A few months back, Anne Lamott wrote a piece for my magazine about being 49. I’ll read part of it: “I have survived so much loss, as all of us have by our 40s—my parents, dear friends, my pets…. If you haven’t already, you will lose someone you can’t live without, and your heart will be badly broken, and the bad news is that you never completely get over the loss of a beloved person. But this is also the good news. They live forever, in your broken heart that doesn’t seal back up. And you come through. It’s like having a broken leg that never heals perfectly—that still hurts when the weather is cold—but you learn to dance with the limp.” ~ from Oprah Interviews Madonna.
In response, Madonna said she’s learned to make her limp work for her.
What about you – is your limp working for you?
I think I’ve made my limp work for me. I’m estranged from my sister – she stopped talking to me about five years ago. I turned that pain into one of my most popular Quips and Tips blog posts: How to Let Go of Someone You Love. And, I wrote an ebook about letting go. It’s my bestselling ebook, because so many of us are in the same boat! We love, we lose.
While I’ll never completely get over my sister’s decision to cut me out of her life, I have learned to walk, run, dance!
And even soar.
Are you limping after loss, like I am?
Related posts:
I’ve never had a family member who struggled with an addiction (that I know of! Maybe my sister is an addict, or my nieces…I have no idea!).
But the feeling of helplessness must be frustrating. I wrote an article about helping an alcoholic sibling, and it’s very popular. The worst part is there’s nothing you can do, except be there when they’re ready to get help.
And in the meantime (and perhaps forever), you walk with a limp.
I love Anne Lamott, she’s my favorite author!! Well one of my favorites.
My limp is my family, too. My brother is an alcoholic and drug addict, and has been in and out of rehab and jail for years. My mom and dad are heartbroken, and will never be the same.