“Tiny little elephants danced across the pink fleece in front of me. It was a familiar print. I’d entered that very store years ago, searching for a final outfit for my gravely ill son. Shoppers were oblivious to me. As I got my daughter dressed, she smiled back at me. I teared up.”
‘My heart skipped a beat. A single outfit stopped me in my tracks. It was a familiar print, from my son’s final outfit.’: Mom caught off guard by emotional memory when she least expected it, ‘I fought back tears’
‘They used to line up to watch me leave. ‘Don’t forget to beep and wave!’ they’d yell, 5 little faces pressed up against the glass.’: Mom realizes she’s now alone as it’s her children who are leaving
“Even if I was just running to the store for 10 minutes… 5 little faces would be pressed up against the glass. And if God forbid we would forget to beep and wave… so many tears. But today, I stood at that window alone.”
‘I miss you already, my baby. You used to need me so much. I cherish the times I was the one to feed you, hold you, calm you. Time is a funny thing.’: Mom warns ‘it goes by so fast’
“So tonight, while you were sleeping, I went to your room and counted your freckles. I gently tangled my fingers in your curls. I listened to you breathe. I sat beside your bed and tried to meet you in your dreams. We laughed and sang in silly voices until it was time for me to go to my own room. I whispered, ‘I love you,’ in your ear. I knew from the beginning you were going to grow. I had no idea how it would simultaneously rip me to pieces.”
‘It’s day 721 of not seeing you. You aren’t something we can pack up, put in a box and label with a Sharpie. You are our son.’: Mom’s grief journey after losing military son, ‘I miss you’
“The lady at the thrift store bravely asked about how we were doing. And you know what? I didn’t lie. I didn’t say good. I thought, ‘Wow, it has been over 2 years. How can that be?’ I found your box of baby clothes and the blankets Grandma made you. You are everywhere here, and at times I don’t want to live in this place anymore.”
‘Mom! That’s not a book!’ She looked confused. I stared for half a second before dying laughing.’: Woman shares fond Christmas memory of late mother, ‘this season has enough heartache’
“One year, I made a wish list of a few things I wanted, one of which I never received for Christmas. I didn’t ask about it though, because that’s ungrateful. But my mom brought it up. After all the hullabaloo was over, she came over and hugged me.”
‘She took her last breath. Over 400 people showed at her funeral, even on the busiest day of the week. That is the legacy she had.’: Woman pens sweet tribute to mother, ‘we will never stop hoping to see you again’
“After losing my mom, I once again feel like that lost little girl in the department store, like the whole world has collapsed. Only this time, no amount of screaming, crying, begging will bring her back. Not a day goes by I don’t recall her. A taste, a smell, a word, a touch. When all else fails, I turn to the memories. But I literally cannot cry, cannot shed a single tear, without also smiling. THAT is the kind of love she left behind.”
“Once Dad began telling his stories, that hospital room became a time machine – and he never wanted to stop.”: Woman discovers lifelong memories from dad’s ‘glory days’ after cancer diagnosis thanks to StoryWorth
“Until my father was diagnosed with lung cancer, I thought I knew about all of his biggest adventures. He grew up in a dirt-floor cabin in Appalachia; he became friends with a burgeoning country music star when he climbed a fire escape into their recording studio. He built my childhood home with his bare hands. I started having him write down his stories in his hospital room. Once he started, he never wanted to stop.”
‘Christmas Eve finally came. I had to open that big box first. I tore into the paper and there she was – a My Size Barbie.’: Woman remembers what matters most this holiday season, ‘The pricelessness of being together’
“Christmas, when I was 5-years-old. I remember in the back stood a box approximately 3-foot-tall with MY name on it. Of course, my brother couldn’t help but tease me there is only a small gift inside, and the big box was just a trick. But I knew.”
‘Bobbie, this is the key to good mashed potatoes.’ Grandma died 24 years ago. I still use her mixer.’: Woman remembers what’s really important at Thanksgiving, ‘They were perfect, and we weren’t looking at Pinterest’
“I find out 3 weeks before Thanksgiving that my mom would like me to host it this year. I’m not freaking out. Really. I’m not. I find a checklist on Pinterest. ‘How to Host the Perfect Thanksgiving.’ Well, it seems I’m already 3 weeks behind. Clean your refrigerator, clean your oven, empty your coat closets. I’m setting out bowls, getting extra chairs, making sure my cabinets won’t be an embarrassment, when I see the most important part of this holiday.”
‘Mama, I take ballet too, remember?’ She buried her face in my chest crying, protesting.’: Mother feels grief leaving town she raised daughters in, ‘I became a mother in this city’
“After an hour, the other moms packed up their girls to go over to ballet class. As the 3 other girls galloped around excitedly while their mothers located shoes, my daughter crawled into my lap. I clung to her with matching heartache. We weren’t just saying no to ballet for the day. We were saying goodbye to a childhood.”
