My son and I went for a nice walk around the neighborhood this morning. The sun was hiding behind the clouds and a soft breeze blew. With temperatures in the 90s fastly approaching again today, the cool morning was a welcome change. Lawns were being watered and whenever we could, we would walk near the sprinklers to get a bit of the fresh water being squirted. Eventually we decided that some parts of us were soaking wet. We laughed and remembered another time of being soaking wet, though it wasn’t us.
San Antonio 2015. My mom and Lars were visiting from Sweden and we decided to spend a day at Sea World. It was very hot, but all the water rides made the day more bearable, at least for those of us who were riding. Watching us kids having fun, and feeling the heat of the day, my mom eventually said it would be nice to get a little wet, so we decided to get on the Rio Loco ride. Mildly wet from the many splashes we were all having a blast until we turned the corner and saw it: a waterfall! A waterfall of a lot of water was falling right in the middle of the river. We all held on for dear life to the rails in the middle of the boat, each hoping that we wouldn’t get too wet. I thought for sure I was going to get the majority of it until at the very last minute the boat turned and the waterfall soaked Lars right in the middle and my mom completely! The rest of us were content with the results of the little splashes we had gotten from the ride.
But we laughed. We laughed until we were hurting. For wanting to get a little wet, my mom got the whole waterfall dumped on her and there wasn’t a dry spot in her whole body. It was so, so funny and just thinking about it makes me smile again. I must find those pictures!
Who knew in 2015 that I would have my mom for just two more short years. Today marks 3 years without her and I’m feeling the emptiness of life without my mother. No more do I have her company, her smile, her music, and the beautiful reflection of Jesus that she was. And through the tears of “saudade”, I’m trying to center my attention not on the lack of her, but on how full my life was, and is, because of her. I mentioned to a friend this morning about missing my mom and she wrote me back saying that earlier this week she was thinking of who she would like to meet first in Heaven. My parents were the first in her mind. She said “I want to meet the special people whose love & guidance made you into the wonderful, caring person that you are.”
My friend’s words brought tears to my eyes and echoed the feelings in my heart. Though I miss my parents terribly and think often how I wish I could’ve had them longer, I also think how blessed I am for the time I had with them, for how much they influenced my life, and how wonderful that I had them for the time I did. What great life memories and adventures I have because of them. A lot of who I am is because of my parents, the choices they made, the opportunities they gave me, the sacrifices they made, and the love they poured on me. What amazing people they were. Yes, I’m so blessed and today I celebrate!