On November 16, 2008, I lost my mom to pancreatic cancer. It was like being on one of those amusement park rides where the floor drops. I felt trapped in the darkness and unable to move. Although I had 348 days to “prepare” for my mom’s death, nothing could prepare me for the rollercoaster of emotions that slammed me after she died. I felt sad, angry, guilty, and completely lost. My mom was gone, but life still moved forward. It was a concept I had difficulty understanding. Suddenly, there was this huge hole in my life that nothing could fill. Writing and reaching out to others who have lost someone close to them helped me to move forward and eventually heal. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of my mom in some way.
“To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die,” Thomas Campbell.