Motherhood is More Than a Metaphor

One summer a few years ago, a renowned Tibetan Buddhist master came through my city on a teaching tour. Several months before this Rinpoche arrived, I saw the announcement and began making plans to attend. I started early because the teaching lasted an entire weekend, and I didn't have anyone to help me with childcare. I was parenting alone that year - my husband and I were teaching at two different universities very far away from each other - and paying for weekend childcare to attend a (rather expensive) dharma teaching was not an option, since at that time I was spending nearly half of my income on weekday childcare just to be able to work business hours.