Breakfast with Nana

Mother's Day will never be the same again. After yesterday, I realized it wasn't SO bad. All last week, I had been dreading the moment that Sunday, May 10 would roll around - the day everyone on the planet would celebrate, fix breakfast in bed for their mom, and have a meal together after going to church and getting the usual carnation/rose to say "Thanks for being Mom." Instead, I woke up, and handed a gift bag to my sister.

While waiting for her to open, I prayed to myself - "Please Lord, don't let this be difficult" As she unwrapped it, tears began swelling in my eyes. Tearing off the paper, she turned it over, and saw it was a framed 8x10 portrait of mom. The funeral home had done some magic before mom's visitation and took a photo and created a portrait of mom - almost exact of how it would have been. So, I ordered a print, framed it, and for the first time, bought my sister a mother's day gift. We then starred at it for several minutes, and hugged dad, and then we layed it down, and began to cook breakfast.

While I'm standing at the stove fixing pancakes, Grace (my neice) all of the sudden says "I'm gonna eat my breakfast with Nana this morning!" - I look over and she's holding the framed portrait on her lap, with her arm around it, and eating her "papa grits". So innocently, she was enjoying her morning with mom and for a moment, I was jealous of her, that she was eating breakfast with MY MOM!!!

But, she was so sweet - it made me realize that yes, I too, can eat with mom. Mom's body and spirit may have left us, but her love for us and stories continue to bring great memories that make us laugh and cry. I pray that I can continue to remember her in the days to come. And I can eat breakfast with her any time I want to!

I have a few stories I can't wait to tell you about and hope to get them to you before we go on vacation next week. I hope you can laugh (and maybe cry) with me.