To my friends and my family who have a Mommy in heaven... I think of you. Every mother's day I know the one thing you want more than anything. Your mom. And you are not forgotten. While all of us celebrate with our Moms who are here, I think of you. I don't celebrate a single outing or event with my own mother without the thought that it could be the last. I always hug her. I always tell her I love her. And then your face pops into my head. I hate living in a world where I have multiple friends without a parent, but a mother... that's a special place, a special light and a devastating loss. It forever hurts me and it hurts that I have something others wish they had. In a way, yes. I feel guilty.
I learned to never take a mother for granted when I was a teenager. You see, there was this girl. She and I would fight over my boyfriend, who didn't quite frankly deserve either of us at the time. We stalked each other, fought, called each other, sent nasty messages. It was well over a year that this went on and it was so awful. And then one day in March, out of the blue, someone texted me to tell me this girl's mother had passed. It was a brain aneurism. Just like that. A mother, a wife, a friend... gone. And I thought, "Wow. All of this time I've been fighting with a girl I hardly even know and was wishing horrible things on her, and this happens." I instantly dropped every negative thought I had about this young girl and promptly texted her best friend to get information on the services. I showed up at her mom's funeral with a bouquet of orange roses (the girl's favorite color). I hugged her and apologized about everything, then looked at her beautiful mother lying there. My heart broke that day, and I feel like I'll always have a crack in it. I was causing grief in someone's life all this time, and probably took so much time away from this girl and her mother... I was so immature. But I promised I would never ever ever treat someone like that again and would NEVER take my mom for granted. But the fact I had to learn a lesson this way is sick and horrible.
The girl and I got to know each other over the years, and we became friends. We have parents who work together and just hearing her name always makes me smile. Seeing her in person makes my heart explode... I love her so very much because I learned so many life lessons through our relationship. But every mother's day, I think of her Mom. Not just her, but many other friends, like the photo above. The photo above is my client and friend, Meghan, who's mom went to heaven long before she had her daughter Tenley. So we made her apart of this session and will for her son's upcoming session, as well.
So for those with Earth-Mommies who are in your life, love her no matter what. You have no idea what's coming tomorrow and you won't get today back. And for those with Heaven-Mommies, you are not forgotten and your mom is not forgotten. I see you. And I love you. And I'm wishing your Mom a happy Mother's Day, wherever she is, surely looking down on you :)