05/11/2026
For those of you who honor Mothers Day a little different - we see you too ! 💖😇
There are some people who shape us so deeply that even after they are gone, we still hear their voice in the way we move through the world. My mother was one of those people.
I was raised by a single mom from the age of 9. We lived on a farm, and she worked two jobs just to keep us afloat. Later, while I was in college at UNH , she started a business of her own. I helped her while carrying a full course load and working long nights waitressing and bartending. Looking back now, I realize we were building far more than a business or a life — we were building resilience.
She taught me about farming, homesteading, faith, flowers, family, and unconditional love. She taught me how to care for people deeply. She gave me my instinct — that quiet inner voice that senses danger before it arrives. She taught me to never settle, to believe I deserved the very best life had to offer. She taught me how to survive. How to love fiercely. How to keep going when things felt impossibly hard.
Like so many families, we walked through heartbreak together. She died from dementia during Covid, but truthfully, I believe the isolation took her long before her body did. The visits stopped. The connection faded. And for someone whose soul thrived on people, community, conversation, and purpose, that loss was immeasurable.
And yet, caring for her in those final years healed wounds between us that life had created over time. There was grace in that season. There was forgiveness. There was understanding that can only come when you finally see your parents not just as parents — but as human beings carrying their own pain, fears, sacrifices, and stories.
I miss all of her.
The good, the bad, and the ugly.
But most of all, I miss her beautiful soul. Her strength. Her fiery spirit. Her spicy side. Even the parts of her that came from good intentions but didn’t always land softly. Because now I understand that love is not perfection. Love is the staying. The trying. The sacrificing. The showing up over and over again, even when life is hard.
And she did that…..Every…single….day. 🩵
