For years, I was the mother who always said yes. I put everyone else first, even when I was exhausted and had nothing left to give. But after a painful family vacation in Brittany, my daughter finally realized what she had been doing to me. And at 62, I discovered something I should have learned decades earlier: loving your family should never mean losing yourself.

Claire noticed that I had stopped.

“Are you all right?”

I nodded.

“Yes. I just want to look at the sea for a moment.”

“Take your time,” she said.

And she meant it.

I walked slowly toward the water.

The wind lifted my hair, and the cold air touched my cheeks.

I took off my shoes and let the waves reach my feet.

The water was freezing.

I laughed.

A real laugh, one that came from somewhere deep inside me.

Claire laughed, too.

“What?” she asked.

“Nothing,” I said. “I just forgot how good it feels to do something for no reason at all.”

She stood beside me, smiling.

And then she did something I will never forget.

She took off her shoes, rolled up her trousers, and stepped into the water beside me.

For several minutes, we were simply a mother and a daughter standing in the sea.

No responsibilities.