Not everyone can say theyâve been to the Big Apple, but MARGARET 'MAGGIE' SHAW, a FIFTY-ONE year-old CIS FEMALE has lived in MANHATTAN for TWENTY-FIVE YEARS. This is the city of dreams and SHE knows it, because they came to NYC to be a THERAPIST. Well, that and as a THERAPIST to NIA TINDEL. Living in the city means they meet all kinds of people, but everyone always seems to think they look like RACHEL WEISZ. They even got away with free cab fare once because of it!
tw: mentions of stillbirth/loss of pregnancy, gaslighting
+: determined, caring, playful, charismatic, giving -: sarcastic, rancorous, stubborn, cynical, dogmatic
can you even become a therapist in this day and age without needing at least a little bit of therapy yourself? probably not -- and maggie is fully on team âeverybody can benefit from therapyâ. hell, she knows she did. so, what happened in her life then, you ask? time for a story, i suppose.
born as the second (and last) child to robert and diane shaw, money had always been a thing their family hadnât needed to worry about. while her roots are in scotland and most of her family still resides over there, maggieâs parents immigrated to the us in the late 1950s, pregnant with her older brother robert junior. robert was to take over a branch of the family business, while diane took care of their new family.Â
let it be known that maggie wasnât planned, exactly. sheâs much younger than her older brother, and the fact that she was a âsurpriseâ was something her mother would hold against her. diane would make sure sheâd make it very known to her daughter, especially during fights, that she had never asked for her. i guess you could say maggie and her mother had a bit of a ... strained relationship. this caused maggie to act out starting from age 17, but only just so much that her mother would catch wind of it. read: sheâd act up at parties and dinners with family friends -- eventually having a little bit too much fun in college at 19 and getting knocked up by one of those dear family friends.Â
this, obviously, didnât fit into the life plan her parents had thought up for her, and it would quickly be swept under the rug. the family friendsâ son would just continue his studies, while maggie got shipped off to scotland for a âyear offâ. she stayed with one of her aunts during this, staying inside most of the time so that she wouldnât be spotted with her big, pregnant belly. when the time rolled around for maggie to have her baby, she was so excited to become a mom. sheâd show her parents -- actually, no. she wouldnât show them at all. sheâd break with them, never see them again; never let them meet her little bundle of joy.
but that dream never became a reality. whilst in labour, maggie lost her baby - or so she thought. her parents had arranged for her to give birth at a private clinic, paying off the doctors and midwife. they told her she wasnât allowed to see her baby, that it was too late. in reality, robert and diane had arranged for the baby to be adopted by a nice scottish family -- very discreetly. maggie was to never catch wind of the fact that her baby girl was still alive.Â
inconsolable and grief-stricken, maggie returned to the us, the plan of breaking with her parents now off the table. she completely dedicated herself to her studies, getting her bachelorâs in psychology before moving on to medical school and becoming a licensed pyschiatrist. she has her own practice now - determined to help people wherever and however she can. having gone through much counselling after her miscarriage, she realized how important good help was.Â
as for the big family secret... it remained hidden for over 30 years, until about two weeks ago. maggieâs mother had been sick for a while, and doctors told her she didnât have much longer to live. maggie travelled up to maine, where the couple now resided, to see her mother one last time before she passed. that night turned out to be much more than maggie had bargained for; her parents were both in the room, mom in bed, dad next to it... and then they told her. diane felt like this wasnât a secret she could take to the grave, or else she wouldnât go to heaven ( of course, the reason for telling her was extremely selfish -- at least, thatâs how maggie felt about it ).Â
currently, maggie is still in a state of shock over learning that her daughter is very much still alive. her parents didnât give her much information to work with other than the contact of the adoptive parents, but once the initial shock wears off -- maggie is determined to find her baby.Â
