Mom...

Mom, for one last time on Mother's Day, I want to say Thank You....

For giving me both roots and wings...

For teaching me correct principles and setting me on the right path...

For the late nights and early mornings...
For the sleepless hours spent worrying and praying...
For simply being you...
The most precious Mother I could ever ask for...

Love you, Mom...

To infinity and beyond...

If you had asked me a year ago if this Mother's Day would be different than any other, I would have probably said, "No." After all, one does not anticipate a mother being diagnosed with a fatal disease whose progress seems to be on a highly accelerated track.

No, this year's Mother's Day is not at all what I had pictured it would be 365 days ago.

In a way, I am fortunate to have the knowledge that - on this side of the veil, anyway - this is likely the final Mother's Day I will have had the chance to spend with my mom. Others have their mothers taken from them in sudden and unplanned ways and don't have the chance to express their love and appreciation for their moms before they are gone. So, while I ache knowing that I will not have the chance 365 days from now to wish my mom a Happy Mother's Day in person, I am so very grateful I was blessed with the opportunity to tell her that today.