And so it shall end

Tomorrow is my mom’s 89th birthday, and for the first time in many years, I am unable to celebrate it with her.

I console myself by acknowledging she doesn’t know what day it is so she won’t notice I’m not there, and that I’ll celebrate her birthday the next time I can be there and she will be just as pleased.

Dementia is so cruel.

I introduced you to my mom a few years ago. You can find that HERE.

She has led the most amazing and courageous life.

And I couldn’t help but see her face as I read this:

“The love affair with life, is to live as variously as possible, to groom one’s curiousity like a high-spirited thoroughbred, climb aboard, and gallop over the thick, sun-struck hills every day.”

“Where there is no risk, the emotional terrain is flat and unyielding, and, despite all its dimensions, valleys, pinnacles, and detours, life will seem to have none of its magnificent geography, only a length.“

“It began in mystery, and it will end in mystery, but what a savage and beautiful country lies in between.”*

Happy Birthday, Mom. I am so grateful for you. I love you.

*Diane Ackerman, A Natural History of the Senses