Dear Mom-

Sometimes in the morning, I wake up and for a brief time the world is as I once knew it; a world completed by your presence.
Reality seeps in and I acknowledge the fact that you’re gone.
I have to let you know that not a day has gone by that I haven’t thought about you in some respect. As the song says, there’s always something there to remind me.
It might be the sound of your name, or an unannounced summer thunderstorm or maybe the melody of Danny Boy on Saint Patrick’s Day; things too numerous to mention here. Unexpected things come along as well.
I was working south of Boston one weekend and took 93 South out of the city headed towards Marshfield.

I passed a road sign on Route 139 that read: Nantasket Beach.
I thought about a small picture I have of you from that innocent and healthy time in your life that found you on that beach.
I can hear your laughter and see your smile.
Your soul was a happy one then, as I pray it is now.
I only wish that you had seen more of those sunny days.

The Bleeding Hearts and Columbine we planted for you are thriving in the garden and serve as a gentle reminder that in many ways, you’re still here with us. And you are.
Forgetting you is just not an option.

Κύριε ἐλέησον, Χριςτὲ ἐλέησον, Κύριε ἐλέησον.