On Mother's Day...

On this Mother's Day, my heart is with my Mom.

The reason that I aspired to be a Mother in the first place.  Truly.  It's all I ever wanted to be - but only if I could be like her.

I'm still trying.

Only one year and six months ago, my Dad died.  It was a great loss for my Mother... and for all of us.

Then, just this past March, she sold the family home.  It had been her home for forty seven years.

She had just moved into her new home - a lovely retirement community - just a week before my birthday.

At a time when she should be sitting back, making new friends, getting adjusted to her new home...

...she is grieving.  Again.  This is not lost on me.

Now that I'm a Mother, I realize the intense pain felt when one of your children is hurting.  My Mother, who means everything to me, is still trying to cope with her husband's death... then a major life change with a move... then her grandson's tragic death... and finally, watching her own daughter grieve.

Again.

On this Mother's Day, my heart is with my Mother.  

We have always been tightly connected by our own invisible string.  

And even though I can't imagine her grief... and she can't imagine mine...

...our bond means that we don't need words.  We never did.  We just knew.  I hope that Gavin knew.  And I hope that Brian will always "just know" like I always did...

 ...on Mother's Day.

And every day.