New Product Editor Mary Kellenberger shares some very special memories.
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When Irish eyes are smiling…
That's what we were all singing as we walked out of church proudly behind my Mother's casket - just one year ago.
My Mother was the most beautiful, loving woman of grace I've ever known. I not only say that as her daughter - but these words were expressed time and again by others at her wake, funeral Mass and at the Irish celebration of life that followed her funeral.
I was so privileged to have had her - not only as a Mother but as a best friend. I often think how lucky I was to have enjoyed her comforting friendship into my senior years. So many of my friends lost their parents early in their lives. I can remember praying desperately when a good friend lost her mother in high school - "Please, please God. Just let my Mother live until I get married." Then – "Please, please God. Just let my Mother live to hold my children." Then – "Please, please God. Just let my Mother live to hold my grandchildren." It was always a prayer to not take her away. Even when she was into her last few days in the hospice - "Please, please God. Don’t let her die...." - when I should have been praying - "Please, please God - take her home to be with you and Dad and all her siblings and friends, so she doesn’t have to suffer anymore." In the very end, that was my prayer - but it was a hard one to say.
Whether or not people believe in a God, losing our Mothers is one of the most difficult parts of life. Having a God - and a faith that there is a reward and meeting place after we die - just made it so much easier for me. But, that's a very personal thing. It was equally difficult to lose my Dad - but different.
One of the simple joys of having her in my life for so long, was that I could finally understand what she meant when she'd talk about getting up to go to the bathroom so often during the night; or the snapping sound her knees made sometimes when she walked down the stairs or would get up from her favorite chair. We came to share many of the senior symptoms as she got older - as did I.
There's something very special about being a woman and sharing these things with your Mother. She understands, empathizes, sympathizes but never criticizes. And, no one will ever love you as much.
If you're reading this - thank you. I want people to know about this incredible Woman. But - it might be a bore - after all, most of us love our Moms this dearly. However, for me writing it is cathartic, so I'm really being just plain selfish. Thanks for putting up with a little bit of my heart healing.
I love you, Mom.
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