This research examines the effects of maternal incarceration in the United States with a specific focus on the short- and long-term risks to which children are exposed when they live with their mothers pre-incarceration. It synthesizes the pre-existing body of research concerning the effects of maternal incarceration and places it in dialogue with the author's unfolding personal narrative---a story of resilience. Employing an autoethnographic approach and analyses of the letters her mother wrote to her while in a state penitentiary, the author examines her own life relative to the relational communication patterns between her and her mother before, during, and after her mother's incarceration.