Returning to “Mo-Home” with my daughter
Carla Richardson Lambert ’88 reflects on bringing daughter
Brittany ’16 to MHC this fall.
Brittany Lambert ’16 (left) and mom Carla Lambert ’88 (right) with Mary Williamson McHenry ’54 at the Black Alumnae Conference
“We are Mo-Home.” That phrase from the cover of the summer Alumnae Quarterly sums up how I felt stepping back onto campus in August, twenty-four years after I left. I have been back many times, but this one was different—I was leaving my precious only daughter. To say that the experience was surreal is an understatement.
Many things have changed since we were students. Despite the changes, the real essence of MHC remains the same—strong, determined women, poised to change the world and better mankind. The pervasive feeling across campus is still of young women finding their voices, perched on the very brink of great accomplishments.
Our campus remains a place where women can feel supported and encouraged while they develop their thoughts and beliefs. Knowing that things are still the same at the core made it so much easier to let my daughter go and drive away. The future is wide open and limitless for her and her classmates.
My favorite memory of MHC is sitting in the Torrey dining hall with ’88 classmates Cheryl Johnson Vault, Liz Clapp O’Connor, and Fran Sterling discussing some weighty global topic. My mind comes back to that image repeatedly, as a symbol of a period in my life when I was constantly exposed to intelligent women of various cultures, ideologies, and beliefs, who engaged in friendly debate about any topic under the sun.
These are the experiences I wish for my daughter and am so glad she has positioned herself in a place where they are likely to happen—a place that always feels like home, no matter how far away we move.
We really can come home again…and sometimes, if we’re lucky, we can bring our daughters too.”
December 12, 2012
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