I must admit that I did not contemplate Mother's Day a great deal before losing a child. I didn't need flowers, a dinner, or anything terribly special. I used to enjoy receiving a drawing and a handmade card from my kids, and I still treasure these. I am pretty happy being treated well year round, and so I didn't really feel the need for a fuss on a particular day. After all, I have my birthday.
However, after the loss of a child, Mother's Day becomes much more significant, much for painful, and a day to endure. I can't even watch television without hearing about Shari's Berries, and how Mother's Day would be incomplete without them. Mother's Day is incomplete. It is incomplete because I am the Mother Duck in the song Daniel used to sing and shed a tear to, where one of the little ducks doesn't come back. Of course, in the last verse, all the little ducks come back. Sometimes our lifetimes seem very long before our little duck comes back. Sometimes the days, and the days leading up to them, can be very hard. Today is one of those days.
The little card above was found on the SUDC website. It's a reminder that Mother's Day might be a happy day for many families, but for many of us, who have lost a child in this lifetime, it is a bittersweet day.
I send love, best wishes, and whatever wishes of happy memories I can to my sisters in grief this week.
Take good care of yourselves and of the children you have remaining on this Earth.
A great song for Mother's Day: This Amazing Love
And Daniel, I am not sorrowful this Mother's Day. I carry the joy of the memories of having raised as fantastic a young son as you ! I am so grateful for your having made the trip to Earth to be an important part of this family.
