Hey, it's Dora, and welcome to Radiohead Space.
So there was a moment not too long ago that has stayed with me.
I was with my mom, and she was getting ready to go out.
She asked me what I thought about what she was wearing.
She was putting on her makeup, adjusting things, checking in.
And suddenly I had this very human realization.
She is just a girl.
Not in a diminishing way, but in a real way.
A person who had a life before becoming a parent.
A person who was shaped by her own circumstances long before I ever arrived.
My mom is the oldest of seven children.
She had to grow up fast.
And later, she became a single parent caring for three kids.
Carrying stress, fatigue, responsibility, and pressure that never really let up.
In that moment, I felt something soften in me.
Relief, curiosity, and grief too.
Grief for how much she had to hold.
And how that shaped the way she showed up.
Including the ways that impacted me.
Now, I want to be clear about what this episode is and what it is not.