©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Local women’s ode to motherhood
by JENNIFER KATZ

Camel-colored couches hug the walls and oversized earth-hued pillows are strewn on the floor as 30 women and a handful of men and children sit rapt at the front of the room. A young woman stands up behind a gold-edged, wooden podium with her back to a cloth sign that reads, “Every mother is a working mother.” She nervously begins reading from the pages in front of her. The story begins with an oddly humorous description of her two-year-old son’s loud romping through the house. By the time he turns three, just a few moments later, the story, his story, her story, is dark and heavy, and the audience is silent, anticipatory, saddened. His father, idol and workshop mentor, is dying and his toddler brain is desperately trying to cope with it.

“The Workbench,” a short story by Natasha Kassell-Osborne, recounts the demise of husband and father Tom from the viewpoint of his son, Finn. Kassell-Osborne’s reading was part of the Maternal Wellness Center’s first “Honoring Mothers,” a reading of original works by local mothers, last Saturday, May 13.

This was the first event for the center in its new location on Carpenter Lane near Weavers Way Coop. And it was the first time the center had honored mothers in this way. “Being a parent is often about getting advice,” said the center’s co-director, Kathleen Furin. “We wanted this space to be about moms being able to express what motherhood is for them.”

The event featured more than a dozen local writers, most of whom met through writing workshops, Furin said. She and co-director Meredith Jacoby were among those reading their work at the event. Furin is a former social worker and mother to two daughters, ages five and two. She founded the center in 2004 with Kelly Lauer, also a social worker, to provide support services to women and families in transition to parenthood. “We wanted to provide an alternative to the hospital model for childbirth and prenatal care,” Furin said.

Through grants and personal investments, the center now offers services ranging from therapy to maternity massage. The move from Germantown Avenue in Mt. Airy also brought the addition of a retail store. Featuring organic product lines and original items from local women, the store caters to the holistic and hip. All of the profit from merchandise sales will help finance the center’s programs, especially those aimed at women and families with sparse resources. Primarily, that would be the Healthy Moms Initiative, a holistic stress-reduction and education program for pregnant women through the use of yoga, nutritional counseling, massage therapy, psychotherapy and other services.

“The purpose of the center is to say, ‘There is no one way to be a mom,’” Furin said. “The idea is to respect each other and support each other.” And to encourage the creative expression of its members, added Furin, who started writing after her oldest daughter was born. Today, Furin contributes to Literary Mama, an online parenting magazine, and writes regularly for The Mother, a holistic parenting magazine from the United Kingdom. The center hosts a mothers’ writing circle every third Sunday of the month.

And, they hope, an annual Mother’s Day reading. Until then, the center holds meetings every month for new moms, moms with multiples and a variety of other topics that affect mothers. For a complete listing or to learn more about the Maternal Wellness Center visit www.maternalwellness.org.