There’s no need to write a new letter, for my heart opens in gratitude to be your mother. Many people have requested that I share my precious gift to you.  ”Happy Mother’s Day!”

Dear Jodi,

I’ve thought about what I’d write to you today – Mother’s Day.   I could easily write – all that I had done for you, the lessons I taught you, and even how I embarrassed you — being your mother.  Or recall past Mother’s Days and even dream about our future of what could have been.  Either way — I had to “give you back.”

And that has been the hardest job of being a mother!   As time passes, the more I’m convinced that surviving changes us.  I look at life differently because your death gave my life new meaning and purpose.

Often I think about our final hours and moments together.  We made promises to each other and most importantly, we talked about the lonely journey ahead.   I believe you were leading me into the future — while I was loving and holding you.

The late Gilda Radner said it well:  “I wanted a perfect ending.  Now I’ve learned the hard way that some poems don’t rhyme and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle and end.  Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what is going to happen next.”

Delicious ambiguity on my sixth Mother’s Day without you.

Love,

Mom