MPW.72 / 2020 Mountain Mother by Ashima Yadava
Photographer
Ashima Yadava Campbell, Calif.

Team Cliff & Vi

Story Summary

Weeks before the pandemic, Rachel was busy setting up her landscaping business. Her day now involves Zoom classes for her six-year-old, calling the gas company for propane, cooking and cleaning her mountain home, taking care of her sister’s horses, and keeping her 14-year old constantly entertained. “I am a strong woman. If a tree falls, I can cut it and clear the road. But being a mother is perhaps the hardest thing.” Day after day, Rachel is faced with a seemingly inexhaustible range of challenges and parenting duties. This experience of perpetually coping and still watching your world come undone is poignant and tragic. For her being "a strong woman" is not a choice — but the only way to survive.