Lindsay H.’s Story

My beautiful mom left this world one year ago today, April 5.  One entire year without our daily check-ins, her joyful musings about my son, her only precious grandson.  She was funny and witty.  She could do damn near anything.  Paint her living room and rearrange the furniture, all in one day?  Check.  Throw together an impromptu party for her friends and neighbors on her beloved front porch to watch a small town parade?  Check.  Calm me down from any of life’s minor (and major) anxieties, with her calm and practical advice?  Check.  She loved her family, her community, her friends, neighbors, volunteering, her garden, children, and dogs.  She made every house we lived in a warm and inviting home.  She cared for my dad, my sister, and me so fiercely, we may not have understood it fully until she was gone.  She never held a grudge.  And she taught me more about living in her final year, through a brutal and cruel illness, than I could have ever imagined.  She ended her life with grace and optimism…what an example.  Until we meet again, she will be my forever guide.