Skip to main content

It's THAT Day Again


Well, it’s rolled around again.  It’s THAT DAY, you know, the one where I remind you how lucky you are if your mom is still alive.

Look – I do not want to make you feel guilty.  Seriously I don’t.  But if we are being honest here I will admit that you having a living mom makes me a bit (more than a bit…) jealous. 

I know times are tough for everyone right now.  If your mom is in a nursing home you can’t get in to visit her.  If your mom lives in another state you can’t fly to see her.  Heck, even if your mom lives right across town you can’t give her a proper hug (at least you shouldn’t!).  It sucks.

But do you know what sucks worse??  When your mom is dead.  When you know that there is no “end to the distance”.  When the only time you can see your mom is in dreams and that is very rare and when you wake-up she is still dead.  It is like social distancing forever.  How does that sound?

My mom and her 3 daughters.
It is really hard to believe only 2 people in this photo are still alive.
Again – no guilt trip intended.  But hopefully a wake-up call.  Cuz, news flash, your mom isn’t going to live forever (none of us are).  So, if your mother is still alive, here is what I ask you to do.

·         Call her
·         Facetime or Zoom with her
·         Send her a proper letter
·         Mail her a card
·         Bake her some cookies, ring her doorbell, and wave to her from a safe distance when she opens the door and finds them
·         Sit out on the lawn with her and chat (staying at least 6 feet apart)
·         And TAKE A PHOTO WITH HER

Because when she is gone, it will be memories like that and photos that you have left.  And trust me, you will want a lot of those.

Happy Mother’s Day

Love,

The Girl Who Can Only Visit Her Mom In a Cemetery (and once got into a big row with a cemetery worker when they hadn’t plowed the roads so she couldn’t drive in to visit.  She threatened to walk through super deep snow to get to the gravesite, then realized sitting in the warm car crying was a safer choice…) 

 P.S. - Seriously, tell her you love her today, ok?

My parents were always up for ANYTHING!  Here they are on a Duck Tour of DC, when our amphibeious vehicle
went from LAND to RIVER!


Comments

Blue said…
I love you and was thinking of you all day yesterday!

Popular posts from this blog

The Days Are Getting Shorter

The days are getting shorter. The sun, that brilliant star that lights our lives, is setting earlier.   Bit by bit, every evening.   This time of year is always a bit sad for me.   It is a form of closure.   Saying “goodbye” to another summer.   Somehow, it is hard for me to couch it as saying “hello” to another winter.   In my mind I know that is logical, but in my heart, another summer has passed to mourn. I haven’t felt my best the last couple of days.   I put it down to stress – the big annual fundraiser I host is quickly approaching, and at the same time my job, my main source of income, is being threatened to disappear (health insurance along with it).   So yeah, stress could make my body not function properly, right?   Only, as the second day of feeling “off” wore on, it became harder and harder to ignore that things just weren’t right.   It came to a head on a 25-minute car ride.   We had met a friend for dinner and had a lovely time.   It was so fun catching up

The Girl Who Can't Ride a Bike

I am “the girl who can’t ride a bike”. I guess to be accurate, I should say that I WAS “the girl who can’t ride a bike”.   But it was such a big part of my identity growing up, that the never formalized (but often teased about) nickname stuck in my psyche. You know how most kids love to jump on their bikes and pedal around the neighborhood once they have figured out how to balance, brake, and GO?   Yeah, that wasn’t me.   I wasn’t that kid. I am not sure WHAT really happened. The one thing I do remember is being on a bike in my family’s garage in Omaha, Nebraska trying to ride my bike.   It must’ve been winter, otherwise, why wouldn’t I have been outdoors??   But I think my foot slipped off the pedal and I know for sure my knee hit the handlebar.   It hurt.   I remember crying. But I am guessing that it hurt my pride more than it hurt my knee.   I think I was already past the age where kids were “supposed” to ride a bike.   But then and there I must’ve secretly made

The Presents

We are old. Giving gifts has always meant a lot to me.  I was raised in a household that valued gifts, valued “things” actually.  At Christmas time, the base of our tree would be piled hiiiigh with presents wrapped in brightly colored paper tied with neatly curled ribbons.    Birthdays would mean being spoiled by more gifts.   Even Valentine’s Day came with a present.   So, without being overtly taught, I learned that love was shown by giving something tangible.   As I became an adult, I noticed people older than me asking for things for the holidays that I thought were silly – cheese, wine, nuts…   “Those aren’t PRESENTS,” I remember thinking. “Presents are touchable, physical things – things to be KEPT, not to be consumed.”   So, when I found my life partner, I showered him with GIFTS.   Gifts wrapped just as I had been subconsciously taught must be wrapped in beautiful paper, tied tight with a bow.   But it didn’t take long for me to notice that my love and