This blog, dedicated to all the single ladies and our search for real love, is an adaptation of the beloved P.D. Eastman children’s book, Are You My Mother? At another phase of my life, I read the original to my children over and over and over again. Now I feel a bit like the baby bird, wandering the wide world. The message of Are You My Mother? mirrors what T.S. Eliot said so well:

We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.

I believe love is home, and that “home,” no matter where or how you find it, is an unshakeable sense of well-being and connection — the feeling of being held by a loving mother.

Are You My Lover?

A man contemplated finding the love of his life.

His heart jumped.

“Oh oh,” said the man. “The love of my life will be here! She will want conscious, caring, and emotionally generous love.”

“I must gain life experience so I can provide conscious, caring, and emotionally generous love!” he said.

“I will be back!”

So away he went.

Meanwhile, a woman felt her own heart jump. It jumped, and jumped, and jumped!

Out came the desire a for conscious, caring, and emotionally generous lover!

“Where is my lover?” she said.

She looked for him.

She looked up. She did not see him.

She looked down. She did not see him.

“I will go and look for him,” she said.

So away she went.

Out into the world she went.

Out, out, out! There was a lot of living to do.

The woman knew very little about love and life.

She did not know about love and life, but she could find out. “Now I will go and find my lover,” she said.

She did not know what her lover looked like. She walked right by him. She did not see him.

She came to an adolescent boy. “Are you my lover?” she said to the adolescent boy.

The adolescent boy just looked and looked. He did not say a thing.

The adolescent boy was not her lover, so she went on.

Then she came to a busy mother. “Are you my lover?” she said to the busy mother. “No,” said the busy mother.

The adolescent boy was not her lover.

The busy mother was not her lover. So the woman went on.

“I have to find my lover!” she said. “But where? Where is he? Where could he be?”

Then she came to a priest. “Are you my lover?” she said to the priest.

“I am not your lover. I am a priest,” said the priest.

The adolescent boy was not her lover.

The busy mother was not her lover.

The priest was not her lover.

So the woman went on. Now she came to a gay man.

“Are you my lover?” she said to the gay man.

“How could I be your lover?” said the gay man. “I am a gay man.”

The adolescent boy and the busy mother were not her lover.

The priest and the gay man were not her lover.

Did she have a lover?

“I do have a lover,” said the woman. “I know I do. I have to find him. I will. I WILL!”

Now the woman did not walk. She ran!

Then she visited her therapist. Could her therapist be her lover? No, it could not.

The woman did not stop. She ran on and on.

Now she looked way, way down.

She saw a pothead. “There he is!” said the hopeful lover. She called to the pothead, but the pothead did not stop.

The pothead went on.

She looked on Tinder. She saw a one night stand. “Here I am Lover,” she called out.

But the one night stand did not stop. The one night stand went on.

Just then, the woman saw a married man. This must be her lover! “There he is!” she said. “There is my lover!”

She ran right up to him. “Lover, Lover! Here I am, Lover!” she said to the married man.

But the married man just said, “Dude.”

“Oh, you are not my lover,” said the woman. “You are a Dude. I have to get out of here!”

But the woman could not get away. The Dude wanted to pick her up.

He picked her way, way up. And up, up, up went the woman.

But now where was the Dude going?

“Oh, oh, oh! What is this Dude going to do to me? Get me out of here!”

Just then, the Dude came to a stop.

“Where am I?” said the woman. “I want to go home! I want my lover!”

Then something happened.

The Dude put the woman right back where she started. The woman was home!

Just then her own lover came back. “Do you know who I am?” he said to the woman.

“Yes, I know who you are,” said the woman.

“You are not an adolescent male.

“You are not a busy mother.

“You are not a priest.

“You are not a therapist.

“You are not a gay man, a pothead, a one night stand, or a Dude!”

“You are conscious, caring, and available, and you are my lover.”

The End

(Charming!) Illustrations by Natalie Wong.

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