Thursday of last week marked two years since my mother died. Two years without my mom. It just doesn’t seem real. Part of me is still in denial, two years after my mother’s death. How could someone so vibrant and loving and precious not be alive? Coming to terms with grief isn’t about “moving on.” In fact I was just telling my dad that I don’t like that phrase. It doesn’t truly capture what it… [Read More]
Please Don’t Compare Your Grief to My Own
Welcome to the fifth day of #LoveBlog! Today’s prompt is Loss. Check out the announcement post for all the prompts and rules this month. It’s not too late to link up for yesterday’s prompt, The 5 Love Languages. My mom’s death is the worst event of my entire life. My grief is more painful and devastating than how I felt after being sexually assaulted, or how I felt being hospitalized in D.C., or how I… [Read More]
Life Lessons from a Celebration of Life (Guest Post by Libbi)
Today should be my mother’s 62nd birthday and my parent’s 32nd wedding anniversary. Instead, it’s just another painful reminder that my mother died more than a year ago. I spent most of last December in a deep state of depression. I’ve never used the words “depression” or “depressed” very lightly. I try to take mental illness seriously. Casually throwing around medical terms incorrectly just adds to the misunderstanding of mental illness. But sleeping 12 hours… [Read More]
A Year Without My Mother
I’m writing this late at night, or early in the morning, depending on your perspective. A year ago today, I couldn’t sleep either. It’s like I knew what would happen. The phone rang, the sound muffled from my dad’s room across the hall. I could hear him answer it, but not hear his words. Still, I knew. Daddy came to my room a few minutes later and gave me the news. My mother’s soul had… [Read More]
Thoughts on My 29th Birthday
I’ve honestly had writer’s block regarding my birthday for the last week. I keep staring at a blank screen. I have ideas of what to write, but none of them feel right. My mixed feelings about my birthday blog post stem from my mixed feelings about my birthday. I’ve always loved my birthday. For the last few years, I’ve even tried to celebrate my entire birthday month! In South Carolina and Georgia, June is finally… [Read More]
Motherless on Mother’s Day
I wasn’t prepared for this new wave of pain. I knew December would be a low point in my first year of grief. My mom’s birthday and my parents’ wedding anniversary is December 13th. I knew celebrating those occasions without her, in addition to the holidays, would be difficult. I never expected Mother’s Day without my mother to hurt this much. After writing that out and rereading my words, it feels almost silly to admit… [Read More]