In conversation with Margaret Reynolds
We don't often get to hear the inside story of an adoption and less so the voices of both the parent(s) adopting and the voice and experience of the child.
In Margaret Reynolds book The Wild Track we get to hear both those voices and the intimate and often very challenging journey Margaret (Peggy) went on for seven years to finally one day bring her daughter Lucy home.
She shares both their different experiences of that actual day when she went to pick Lucy up. Her own being one of ‘getting it done’ and following the advice of the social workers – get in and get out, and the very different experience that Lucy was going through - being wrenched away from her foster family with very little explanation of why she was leaving them, what would happen next and for how long she was going to be parted from them.
Margaret (Peggy) shares that going through the often brutal adoption process really required her look at her own life and childhood and the realisation she was, in effect, a migrant from Australia and how because she (and Lucy) had both moved around a lot at a young age – the sense of home and belonging was so important for them – the nurture and sense of stability.
One of the things I found most profound as a mother also was this idea of ‘The Wild Track’ as a metaphor for the pause, silence, space and emptiness to be fully present - “that is the real essence of the wild track”
Being fully present as a parent says Peggy helps us to see another’s perspective and really hear another voice”.
It reminds me of a phrase I heard a long time ago and I often recalled myself as a parent – ‘The greatest gift you can give anyone, but especially a child, is to your undivided attention’.
For anyone who is looking to explore what it means to be a mother and to belong you may well find this book heart-warming and heart wrenching for those thinking of going on the journey of adoption you will find it a wealth of valuable insights and information.
Peggy and Lucy travel extensively and there is a moment in the book that speaks to where they are today in their relationship and life – “as we paddle back a pair of kingfishers dive into their nest in the riverbank right by our tent. In this moment we know that we are right where we are meant to be”.