The Power of Sugar in My Family

My mother believed she had been rejected by her parents because she was defective. This distorted conclusion about herself produced feelings of shame. I suspect the sweets she stole from her grandmother and the toffees she hoarded were about comfort as much as hunger. Stealing is bad, greed is bad. When you are already bad, shame entices you to act in ways that confirm it. Shame is beguiling. If I was another sort of daughter, a daughter more compassionate, less estranged from my animal self, perhaps I would have offered my starving mother, my breast for what is food at the start and end of life but comfort? What is a mother to a daughter and a daughter to