I am one of many. I am the oldest and the only daughter in my family. My mother is and was my best friend. Just this last June she went in for surgery and was sent home the very next day. Within eight hours she was found dead. She was 54 years old. She was our rock. She was our EVERYTHING. As we were planning for her celebration of life, I sat and wondered just what I was going to say to all these people. How was I going to be strong for my younger brothers, my dad, my whole family — including her own father — but most of all my 4-month-old daughter, for whom my mother was changing her work schedule to stay home and take care of. The child she and my father gave my husband and me the money to help conceive, since I had always been told I would never have children.
I was puzzled. I then stopped and thought, “Wow, this can’t be real. We do not have the person that directs us all.” As I gave my speech, it came to me that my mother, who was lying in front of me in her casket, never taught me how to make gravy from scratch. And I just blurted it out. Everyone laughed and I was devastated.
But the one thing I did take away that I will forever be grateful for is the person she taught me to be, not only in words but by example. Always give everyone a chance, she would say. Never judge. You don’t know what this person might bring to you or what you bring to them. I miss my mother, and I would love to share so much more of her with the world.
Read more stories in the “Memories of Mom” series here.
