Remembering Her…

Mother’s Day comes every year and is a time to celebrate the Mother’s in our life. This may be a mom, stepmom, grandmother, aunt, or even a daughter. For some, this may be the first Mother’s Day without that special person, making it a day of grief and sorrow instead of happiness and celebration. And for others, this day is always hard even if it has been years since that special person’s passing. The pain will never go away of losing a loved one, but it can become easier to handle the pain that it brings.

It is important for us to choose how we are going to grieve. You can choose to grieve in a healthy or unhealthy way and the decision is up to us to make. The way we think about the loss is ultimately how we will choose to grieve – either by reflecting on the memories we share with the person we have lost or choosing to reflect on the loss itself and the empty feeling we may now have. It is okay to feel empty and alone, but it is important for our mentality to also reflect on memories from a happier time and be able to smile during the grief.

This Mother’s Day try to do something special in honor of the mom in your life. Bake her favorite cookies or pie in her memory or watch her favorite movie. Do something that you always did together and think of the memories that you are so fortunate to be able to cherish because of the time that you did get to spend with her. Maybe your mom enjoyed gardening and planting flowers, plant her favorite flower this Mother’s Day and all season you will think of her when you look at it. Planting her favorite perennial flower or tree is a great way to remember her as you will be able to look at it year after year.

For many of us, we have learned so much from the women in our lives. Whether it be cooking, keeping house, gardening, or even being a strong independent individual. The mother’s in our lives have played an especially important role in shaping us as who we are today. I know the women in my life have shaped me to be the strong, loving, and caring mother than I am today and for that, I will forever be grateful and I only hope that I can pass that on to my children one day as well. Remember to consider focusing your mind on being thankful and fortunate for the memories and lessons learned instead of focusing on mourning. Simply put, if it were not for the women in our lives, many of us would not be the individual that we are today.

“Her children rise up and call her blessed.” — Proverbs 31:28

-Sarah Driskell