Word to your mothers
Mother's Day 2026
A very personal Mothers Day post, below. But first:
Movie you should watch with your 86-year-old mother: last year’s Andrea Gibson doc Come See Me in the Good Light, about a 50-year-old poet who doesn’t let a terminal diagnosis diminish their lust for life. Although my mom did ask, about 20 minutes in, “Is that a man or a woman?” (Also recommended: Mike Birbiglia specials.)
Movie you should definitely not watch with your 86-year-old mother: Grey Gardens. “I can’t say I’m enjoying this,” said mine, drily, about 30 minutes in.
New music for Mothers Day from Toronto songwriter Abigail Lapell, a concept album with nine songs (get it?) about motherhood. Recorded in BC and featuring duets with some other mothers (Frazey Ford, Jill Barber), it draws in part from Lapell’s experience as a new mother who underwent years of IVF and once suffered a miscarriage on stage. But it doesn’t do so directly: Lapell is a poet and a storyteller, not a memoirist. I wrote the bio for the record. Lapell headlines Hugh’s Room on May 22.
Charlotte Cornfield’s new album has perhaps the best titled song about new motherhood:
Hearts on Fire readers: The new Broken Social Scene album, the first in seven years, was informed in part by the passing of several parents. Welcome to your 50s! Kevin Drew talks to Chris DeVille at Stereogum about that, and a lot more. Ryan Dombal at Hearing Things also has a good convo with Drew, who has excellent advice (that I thankfully heeded years ago):
Ryan Dombal: I wanted to ask you one more question about your mom’s passing. I’m very close with my own mom, who is doing well but is also getting older, like all of us. Do you have any wisdom to share as someone who’s been through that experience?
Kevin Drew: Ryan, look at me: press record. Do what we’re doing right now with your mom, because there’s going to be a day when she’s not going to be here. By the time I realized I should have pressed record, I thought, Why didn’t I do this earlier? You keep thinking you’re gonna have time. You don’t. Do it now. And you’ll have that forever. Ryan, you interview so many people—have you interviewed your mom? It will probably be your favorite interview ever.
This Mothers Day, I want to talk about this woman:
My mother was an elementary school principal. That tells you a lot about her: extremely organized, big-picture thinker, photographic memory for hundreds of people’s personal details, caring and compassionate in ways that maintain a structure of support while leaving you to figure out the tiny details yourself — whether you’re a teacher, student, or her own child.
