This year will be the first Mother’s Day without my mother. But, I have a very fond memory of her last Mother’s Day I will never forget:

She had been on hospice care at home for a few weeks. There was no one around who was strong enough to get her out of bed and into a wheelchair to go outside. My sons, ages 24 and 26 came to see us and we insisted she go outside. She was afraid and screamed “No!”, but my sons ignored her protests and picked her up and just kept moving toward the door with the wheelchair. After she was out to see the sunshine on a beautiful spring day, they wheeled her back inside and put her back in her bed. We all felt honored to give her this last gift of sunshine on her final Mother’s Day.