Heaven’s Birthdays

In the year, 2020-2021, our family and extended members certainly saw our share of losses. Yes, COVID-19 was responsible for many of them in our world, but we still had others, unrelated to the worst virus outbreak of my lifetime.

We lost parents. We lost cousins. We lost friends. The reasons? Everything from suicide to cancer to dementia (and anywhere in between).

Today, we remember the woman who gave birth to me. She struggled with reality. She struggled with addiction but even in the midst of mental incapacity, found sobriety and remained such until the end of her time on this planet. Today, she’s where none of that mess exists. She’s safe, healed, and whole with God.

My mom, Marie (I’m her namesake), would have been 82 today. Instead, an unknown viral disease complicated by dementia, took her body on my birthday in 2020.

But today, I will choose to remember her sunrise of July 25th, 1939 and even though we did not get to spend much time together, we “got” each other – I have many of her traits even though she didn’t get to raise me (due to her mental illness ravaging her brain most of my life).

Happy Heavenly Birthday, Mom. Our loss is surely their gain. You may not be here in the flesh now, but certainly not forgotten. Catch up soon 💜