Laurie Mazz

The Mother I'll Never Meet

I’ll never be able to thank the woman who showed me the greatest kindness I’ve ever known. In 1968, she was 21 and working as a receptionist at a country club in Connecticut when she found herself pregnant. Not knowing what to do, she shared her news with her Italian parents, who were good Catholics - they had sent their daughters to Catholic schools, never expecting their girls would do anything that would disgrace their faith or their family. So when she told her father that she was pregnant out of wedlock, he promptly informed her that she was no longer allowed to live under his roof. Although her mother and sister wanted her to keep the baby, just as she did, it was decided that she would go to New York City to live at the Catholic Home Bureau. Once there, she would remain there until she had the baby.