Episode 169: Indigenous Wisdom Stories: Mothers Give Us Life Twice
May 20, 2026What do you do with the love that didn't always come in the form you needed?
Twenty years ago, Julia Carmen wrote an essay about being asked to care for her 80-year-old mother. She didn't want to do it. She called her sister. She briefly considered trading mothers with a friend.
What followed those four days — and the fifteen years after — became one of the most profound teachings of her life.
In this episode, Julia reads that essay in full, then reflects on everything that came next: how she and her mother slowly found each other, the soul work of walking two worlds at once, and the ceremony Julia performed to help her mother rebirth — and go back home. She shares the story of Las Mañanitas, the Mexican birthday song her mother sang to her every year at 5 AM, and what she finally understood it was saying.
Julia's mother passed in 2019 at the age of 95. This episode is a love letter to her — and to anyone still working out what to do with everything their mother gave them.
"Mothers give us life twice, if we are lucky. Once when we are born. Once when they leave us."
This episode was first released as Episode 109: My 80 Year Old Mother. We're bringing it back because these questions don't belong to any one season.
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This is pic of Julia's mother's home towns landscape - she loved her Nopales Y Tunas ( cactus and prickly pairs ) she cooked them and talked about them all the time- it was home to her- The food- Si’
Julia's mother
