I’m Hayley. And this is my journal, where I write to my late mother about motherhood without her.

The most defining line of my life was drawn at the fresh edge of my seventeenth year, when she transitioned from this world. She was thirty-nine.

And another defining line was becoming a mother; giving birth to my first child and learning to raise him without the maternal companion most women depend on.

So I began to write to her, about the figuring-outs of first-time motherhood. Six years later, as I’ve entered my thirties and had a third child, I’m still writing to her; for I’ve learned we never stop needing a mother.

Because mothers make this world go ‘round.

This journaling eventually became a book titled Mother Sun. I leave paperback copies in the Little Free Libraries in my hometown of Pittsburgh, a homegrown way of threading my words into people’s hands and minds and hopefully reaching those among the motherless.

If you’ve found this website and are interested in spreading some sun, contact me and I’ll happily ship you a copy.