The Motherless Mother

Sometimes, you don't want to have to ask for help. You just wish your mother were here to notice that you need it. After an overwhelming weekend, I found myself thinking about how different things might be if my mother were still alive. I imagined her recognizing that I needed a break, offering to take the children for the weekend, and giving me a chance to catch my breath without me having t...

How do you make Christmas magical for your children when you're missing your own mom? What happens when you're excited about the holidays but also feeling sadness, loneliness, or even resentment because she isn't here to share them with you? In this episode of The Motherless Mother , Tishka shares how hearing her sister's favorite Christmas song transported her back to childhoo...

Have you ever had someone unexpectedly mention your mother or father after they've died? Did hearing their name make you smile, even though you still miss them? Have you ever wondered how many other people are carrying memories of your parents that you've never heard? Sometimes, life after losing your mother or father brings unexpected moments of comfort. In this episode of The Motherles...

Two people who love me recently wondered whether talking about my Mummy every week on this podcast might actually be keeping me stuck in grief. Their concern came from a place of love, but it raised a question I hadn't really considered before: At what point does remembering someone become being unable to move forward? And who gets to decide? In this episode of The Motherless Mother Podcast,...

Six years after losing my Mom, I found myself at a wedding thinking about the kind of mother she was — and the kind of mother I'm becoming. My mother, Lillian Scott, was the ultimate Momma Bear. She loved her children fiercely, but that didn't mean she automatically took our side. If we were wrong, she told us so. Still, we never had to question whether she was in our corner. And she had...

There were things Mummy did when I was growing up that I was absolutely certain made no sense. Why did my little sister have to come everywhere with me? Why couldn't Mummy just go to sleep when I was out late? Why could everybody sleep at our house when I wasn't allowed to sleep at theirs? And why, from where I stood, did her life seem so... boring? Then I became a mother. In this episod...

You're the grown-up now. You're the one raising the children, making the decisions, filling out the forms, scheduling the appointments and somehow being expected to know where everybody's missing shoes are. But becoming the grown-up doesn't necessarily mean you stop needing one. In this episode of The Motherless Mother , I'm reflecting on one of the quieter realities of mo...

When I was 19, my mother was 46. Back then, 46 sounded middle-aged to me. Grown grown. Surely by that age, you knew who you were, had life figured out and had done most of the becoming. Now I’m 46. And apparently, 19-year-old me had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. In this episode of The Motherless Mother Podcast , I reflect on midlife, motherhood and mother loss by looking back at t...

I knew my mother very well. But after losing her, I’ve found myself wondering about all the versions of her I never got to meet. The tomboy-ish little girl who was mischievous but afraid of getting spanked. The young woman who became Miss Nassau Beach Hotel. The sister who went dancing with my Auntie Wasi and gave men fake names—Linda Pinder and Sandra Fernander—and then switched places when those...

My mother was usually my first call of the morning and my last call at night. Sometimes I needed advice. Sometimes I had news. But most of the time, I called her about absolutely nothing. Nearly six years after losing her, there are still moments when something happens and my first thought is: I need to call Mummy. In this episode of The Motherless Mother , I’m talking about missing your mother af...

Before I became a mother, I had ideas about the kind of mother I would be—and the kind of woman I would remain. Then I actually became one. Motherhood didn't just add children to my life. It changed my priorities, my ambitions, and even my definition of success. And somewhere along the way, I started wondering about something women hear all the time: Don't lose yourself in motherhood. Bu...

One day, our children will tell stories about us. What will they remember? Losing my mother changed the way I think about memories. I don’t remember whether she got motherhood right every time. I remember her —her smile, her laugh, the scents she wore, the meals she made, the softness of her skin, and the way she showed up. And lately, I’ve been wondering: What will my children remember about me?...

There are moments when the joy is so big — and right alongside it comes the ache. I wish my mother could see this. As I prepare to travel to Trinidad to watch my son represent The Bahamas as part of the national swim team, I've found myself thinking about the person I most wish could be in the stands with me: my mother. But one of the things I've learned about grief after losing my mothe...

When my mother died during the pandemic, the people who loved me wanted to help. They couldn't stop by. They couldn't bring a meal. They couldn't sit beside me. So they called. And because they could only call, their words were all they had. Over the years, I've realized there were things I wish people had understood—not just about grief, but about loving someone who's liv...

What does it mean to mother your children when you still miss your own mom? In the very first episode of our Still Her Daughter series, I'm joined by Shonalee King Johnson —a wife, mother, entrepreneur, and, as she says, “always and forever, Gwen's daughter.” Through honest voice notes recorded in her own time, Shonalee shares what it's like to navigate motherhood after losing your...

What happens after losing your mother? How does grief change the way you parent, make decisions, face fear, and see yourself? In this deeply personal episode of The Motherless Mother Podcast , I reflect on the unexpected ways grief has shaped my life since losing both of my parents—and what it means to navigate motherhood after losing your mother . This isn't a conversation about “getting ove...

Motherhood was never part of my plan. For years, I was certain I wouldn't have children. Then, just weeks after my husband and I eloped, I discovered I was pregnant. A few weeks later, my mother discovered she had breast cancer. In the same season I was preparing to become a mother for the first time, I was also facing the possibility of losing my own. In this episode of The Motherless Mother...

Over the past few weeks, you've heard me talk about my mother. This week, you finally get to meet her. Her name was Lillian Scott . To my children, she was Dra . In this deeply personal episode, I share the story of the woman who insisted nobody was going to call her "Grammy"—and then became the kind of grandmother who rearranged her life around the grandchildren she adored. Through...

Who have you become since your mother died? In this episode of The Motherless Mother Podcast , Tishka Moss reflects on the woman she has become since losing her mother—and the bittersweet realization that her mother will never meet the future versions of her still to come. Inspired by her parents' wedding anniversary, this conversation explores motherhood after losing your mother , identity a...

Sometimes I miss being someone's child. Not in a childish way. Not because I want fewer responsibilities or someone else to solve my problems. But because there was once someone in the world whose role it was to worry about me, check on me, notice when I was carrying too much, and remind me that I didn't have to hold everything alone. In this episode of The Motherless Mother Podcast , Ti...

Have you ever heard yourself say something and immediately thought: "Oh no. That was my mother." In this episode of The Motherless Mother Podcast , we explore one of the most unexpected parts of motherhood: realizing how much of our mothers lives on in us. From inherited phrases and familiar habits to the instincts we never consciously learned, motherhood has a way of revealing the women...

In the first episode of The Motherless Mother Podcast, Tishka Moss reflects on an ordinary Sunday morning and the surprising ways motherhood after losing her mother has helped her understand her own mother more deeply. For many motherless mothers, grief doesn't only show up during major milestones. It often appears in ordinary moments: preparing meals, managing family routines, carrying the i...

If you're navigating motherhood without your mother, you're in the right place. In this short trailer, host Tishka Moss shares the heart behind The Motherless Mother Podcast and who it's for. Whether you lost your mother before becoming a mother yourself, while your children were still young, or are grieving the gradual loss of the mother you once knew, this podcast is a space for t...