What's a mom to do?

I was driving to Tysons Corner with David and Olivia in the back almost 3 months ago (on Valentine’s Day to be exact) when a text message flashed across my dashboard letting me know that my mother passed away the night before. That began a flurry of emotions, calls, emotions, emails, emotions, moves, and just a few more emotions.  

Several times over the coming days, I said to myself and sometimes a loud, “I’m upset and that’s ok. All of my emotions are important. What’s the next best thing for me to do?”

Most Williams-Wishing Tree kids have heard this exact phrase if they haven’t said it themselves. We honor all emotions and ask the children to honor them as well. Usually just naming the emotion is all that is needed to find space in our hearts and heads and discover why the emotion was felt and if those reasons need to be addressed and how.

Fast forward to my first Mother’s Day since my own mother’s passing. I open my mother’s day gifts from my two glorious children. I’ll share one little snippet from David’s card, “one of my wishes for you is you don’t need sleep so you could work all the time that you needed too.”  The tears flowed. Emotions ran. Hugs were probably just a little too tight.

I tell myself, “I miss her and that’s ok. All of my emotions are important. What’s the next best thing for me to do?” So, I call my other baby over and hug both a little longer. Then, we started cleaning! That’s my mother’s day gift to me.  I hope that your Mother’s Day is filled with peace, hugs, and all of the emotions that life has to give to be the truest version of you. :D