My Mother

Last night my brother called to tell me my mom had passed away. It is strange to think that I saw her on Monday and that now I won't see her again in this life. I am surprisingly comforted to think that I will see her again in the next life. Maybe this emotion shouldn't surprise me, but kind of does. It's just that I can easily picture her away from this life and freed from her physical shackles. That brings me a lot of joy.

Last night I spent a good part of the evening looking at pictures and watching a little slideshow my brother Jake put together. I spent time crying and giggling over old pictures, and then crying some more. I admit that I spent a few minutes wondering who ever decided that spiral perms were a good thing. I'd like to meet this person and not shake his hand. And if you think it's rude or irreverent to make a joke about bad hair when your mother has just died, well, I guess it kind of is, but I think that Mom would approve.

Here are some pictures from last weekend when my siblings and I were all there visiting her. I'm so glad we went. I could tell that it made my mother happy. It made me happy too to be able to say good-bye, to be able to see all my siblings and the new babies, to be able to cuddle with Mom, to be able to make inappropriate jokes about death and dying, to be able to make Mom some traditional Knight food and see her enjoy it, and to have a nice meltdown here and again. I love you, Mom.