Reflections

It was October 16th, 1955, 1:05am. In the community hospital, in a small northern Michigan town, life has just changed for one young woman. And a new life has just begun. A connection has been created, a bond that reaches past the depths of time.
For the young mother, the time with her brand new daughter will be short. Only 12 years. It will, however be enough to teach the fundamentals of life. Compassion, kindness, love, respect and honesty. She'll share things, teach her daughter how to craft a scarf out of a ball of yarn, sew on a button, how to make crispy pickles, blueberry jam, and how to put love in everything she does.
The ravages of cancer and the treatments they tried, to cure it, will end the physical bond. But the love, the eternal bond between mother and daughter will reach past the boundaries of time and place.
The daughter will grow up, stumble and fall, pick herself back up, make mistakes, and move on with her life, live by the standards taught to her in that short time. Or try her best to.
Every year, on this date, the bond feels the strongest. The memories, the image, the essense of that mother-daughter relationship lives on. The basic foundation of the lessons taught so long ago, still lives deep within her heart.
Every year on this date, the daughter remembers the dignity, inner strength, the will to live a good life, the love. The shining example of how to be.... And every year she misses her mother so much.
On this date-October 16th, 2008, I wish to honor the memory of the woman who in those 12 short years, built a foundation that remained steady and strong beneath my feet, in my heart. Honor the woman who was not perfect by any means, yet through the mists of long ago memory, left an indelible impression. And for that, I will be forever grateful.
I may not have had her guidance through some of the hardest years of my life, but I had that foundation she built, a foundation that saved my life, my sanity, my heart, gave me hope.
The least I can do is live a life that shows the compassion, integrity and love that she taught. To be the kind of woman she would be proud of.
Today, Mom, I send you love. I dedicate this entry to you. Thank you for all you were.

There is no stone to mark your passing,
To show the world you were here.
There is only the legacy of love,
carved deep in our hearts.
The memories of years.
And that is enough.

For Barbara Jean