One of Mom's favorite places: Patrick's Point Beach
My mother just passed away. In an enormous display of the pendulum of life swinging wildly, I was married on Friday and received the news Saturday, while attending another friend’s wedding, that Mom had had a massive brain bleed, an aneurysm, and was gone, even though it took days for her body to actually stop functioning overnight Monday.
I am, and continue to be, the most blessed and lucky man in the world, and at the top of the list of reasons is my mother, and our relationship. Nothing was ever left unsaid. We told each other we loved one another, and expressed how proud of each other we were at every turn. She has inspired me since before I knew what the word meant, and I recognize how rare that is. I just hung up the phone with a dear friend from college who wanted to call and offer condolences, who said how much she always admired my relationship with my mom, and told me she and her mother are currently estranged–they haven’t communicated in a couple of years.
Call your mother…and dad…and brother and sister and aunt and uncle and grandparents and co-worker and best friend from third grade. Even if it is not met with the swelling of violins and tearful reunions, you will never regret saying what someone means to you.
You will regret not saying it, I promise.
The Brain Aneurysm Foundation is the world’s only nonprofit organization solely dedicated to providing critical awareness, education, support, and research funding to reduce the incidence of brain aneurysm ruptures.
Please consider supporting their valuable work, especially if you know or have known someone who has had head trauma or illness. Volunteer if you can, become an advocate.
If not this, advocate for something. Take a stand and be involved. You’ll never regret that either.
Mom taught me that.
Change by Doing 