Six years age Diane Guberman sat with her daughter, Rebecca, on a Portland,Oregon, rooftop. When this picture was taken, Rebecca was graduating from college. The milestone is especially poignant became Rebecca is HIV-positive. The doctors told Diane that her daughter wouldn't live beyond her midtwenties; Rebecca turned 30 this year. Here, marriage and family therapist Beverly Engel examines a mother's infinite love.
Diane: Rebecca and I are extremely close. She is my best friend, and I am her best friend. No one can love her more than I do. In this photo, I was thinking about how much I love her, treasure her and how proud I am of her. When she was 18, my husband and I had to tell her she was HIV-positive--she didn't know. It was a sad time for us. While she was going to school in California, she met someone there; unfortunately, she trusted the wrong person. It was the worst time in our lives.
In my mind, I've lost my child thousands of times, because you always think the worst. People shouldn't lose their children. Then as time goes on, after the shock, hope sets in. You just learn to accept it and turn it into a positive thing. I wish it hadn't happened. But there's nothing we can do about it. Things happen for a reason. We feel good about her. If Rebecca were depressed, it would be much more difficult. But she's a positive, take-charge person. Her strength, I think, comes from my husband and me. We're retiring soon and moving to Portland to be close to her. It's time for us to be near our little girl.
