I realized this last year that I have now lived here longer than my Mom did. That just didn’t seem right to me. If anyone deserved a long life it was my Mom. She was so full of kindness, laughter, love, and good cheer and she shared her gentle spirit with everyone. During the last 4 years of her life she battled Cancer. But she used even this to grow closer to us all. I remember calling her on the phone everyday to tell her I loved her, something I sadly didn’t do that much as a child. Still after a long, courageous fight she died on a cold, dark day. She was only 55.

After her funeral my own health broke. I developed double pneumonia and even after my body started to heal my spirit still grieved. I didn’t want to go on without her. I wanted my own young children to know her love. One day as I sat in quiet pain on my couch my little girl climbed on my lap to cheer me up. Her brother soon joined her and I held them both close. At that moment I could feel my Mom’s loving presence in the room and I knew that I had to go on. I vowed that my children would know of her love and beautiful soul through the stories I shared with them and I knew that her gentle spirit would live on in my heart. I could hear her sweet laughter in my mind and I knew that it was time to rise up and begin to live again.

The wonderful author Leo Buscaglia once wrote: “Each day is a fresh beginning, a little life unto itself.” Mom would have loved that quote because that is exactly how she lived her life. She never wasted a moment. Each day she shared her laughter, her smile, her love, her kindness and her cheerful spirit. Each day she made the world a better place for me, her family, and everyone she met.

I will do my best Mom to follow your example: to love God, myself, and everyone else, to make each day a fresh, joyful beginning, and to keep you in my heart until I hug you in Heaven.