One Year Mark

Birthdays and anniversaries have always been just one more reason for our family to get together to celebrate.  So why should today have been any different.  I just don’t think any of us were quite ready for this anniversary to come.  Today is the first anniversary of my mom’s death.

Tonight, after we went to Saturday evening mass, sixteen of us met up for Chinese food.  It was always mom’s favorite so it was the perfect way to honor her on this anniversary.

This day, that I thought was going to be incredibly difficult, truly wasn’t.  I had a very rough week and thought I’d be a wreck today but no tears.  Not even at church where I thought it might happen.  It was truly a day of just remembering her and happy thoughts.  I kept looking for reminders of her all day, hoping she’d send me a sign.  I found two pennies and Drew won a rubber duck in a vending machine, but that was it.  No big “sign” from her.

At 8:53, the time she died, just as we were finishing up dinner, we all raised a glass and toasted her, sending her our love.  The kids loved it and it was a great way to end the day.

All day long I was receiving loving messages from friends telling me that they were thinking of our family today.  I know that was what got us through today…and through this whole year.  Who knows, maybe these were the “signs from mom” I had been looking for all day.