Dear Mom,
Thank you for carrying and caring for me. You made motherhood your job and gave it your all. Many of your women friends were also fulltime mothers. But I remember the high regard you had for working moms – you knew how to live and let others live!
You are not amongst the living anymore yet I feel you near – love transcends time and space. Today is a day to honor you and the many ways I was blessed by you.
Blessed with seven siblings – each of us individuals. Connected to and supportive of each other. People often ask me how it is possible that we all get along (without any major rifts). I tell them my mother would have it no other way! Differences were ok – breakdowns in relationship were not. You taught me about family love. Thank you.
I already mentioned the uniqueness of your children. You and I were different as well. You were social and fun-loving. I was serious and bookish. At eight-years-old, I wrote my first book called Hoppity Sam. It was about a rabbit which is all I can recall about the pencilled manuscript. What I do remember clearly was giving my little book to you. Sitting in your chair by the picture window, you read it – the highest honor for a writer! That makes you my first reader. Thank you.
You were devout in your faith. That gave me a sense of humility (as in I am not the be-all end-all) and longing to connect with a spiritual power. Faith was your rock, your solace, and your go-to. I saw what church-going, prayer, and reverence for the sacred gave you and I wanted it for myself and I found my own path. Thank you.
You lived your faith by serving others. Teaching your eight children to help neighbors and extended family, you took care them. There was an elderly widow across the street from us. Per your directions to one of us, she got her driveway shovelled, errands run, and the comfort of knowing someone was looking out for her. You served others as if it was the thing to do – a given. Thank you.
Being melancholic by nature, I had to learn lightness, humor, and how to have fun. I got that from you. It took me a long time to embrace and appreciate what you embodied and made look easy. It was a stretch for me to lighten up and I thought it was frivolous- oh how a melancholic wants company in her misery! With experience, I came to respect what you modelled. I am so grateful for the joy I know today, thanks to you.
Those are some of the gifts you blessed me with:
family love
acceptance of differences
faith
service
lightness
They are foundational to a life well-lived which is what you wanted for me.
Much love and many thanks, Judy
