More Joy Than Sorrow

We held a wonderful memorial service for my mom this weekend where those who loved her shared their remembrances of a remarkable woman who spent her life making the world a nicer place.

I think everybody there, myself included, learned a lot that they didn’t know about Sally Hartshorne, and every presentation helped round out the picture of the person we were celebrating.

We really lost Sally, the Sally all these people knew, two years ago, but for many of them the loss was more recent. We had a chance to share with them our experiences with the Child Sally we have known for the last year of her life.

We didn’t really have time to mourn the loss of our mom because she was still with us and we could still make her happy and she was still a wonderful person who made us happy, too.

I remember her last days in the nursing home. Beside her bed were her glasses and her watch. And all of a sudden I realized that she wasn’t going to need either of them ever again.

It dawned on me that my mom was dying, but what I felt was, ‘My mom is dying bravely.’ I was more proud and happy than sorrowful.

The memorial service gave us a chance to embrace so many people who loved Sally, too, and it brought us a feeling of finality.

Over the next few months, I guess it will sink in that she’s really gone. But you know what? No one is really gone.