On the 20 year anniversary of my mother's death.
Today marks 20 years since my mother passed away from a near 10 year battle with breast and then bowel cancer. I was there when she died, and that experience has deeply affected me over the years. She died two days before my 15th birthday, and whilst I've since come to a much better understanding of everything since then, it did have a major impact on my life.
My mother was one of those people that seemed to do everything. It just seemed like nothing was too hard for her. She would raise a brood of nine kids, drive them all to school and pick them up, and still find time for each of them. And then she would be involved with helping out with charity work, the local school canteens and the local church activities. Even when she was battling cancer.
But I still feel like I have a relationship with my mother even though she was sick for much of my childhood. And even though I've had no direct contact with my mother since I was a teenager, my mother has been a constant influence in my life. I still often think about what my mother would do. She had a strength about her and of her convictions that I think has carried on in her children - we're all very much people that get up and go, and don't sit and wait for life to happen to us. That's the influence of our mother showing through. We have many of her mannerisms, and many of us still hold her belief system. I know that my own personal belief that every person is valued by virtue of being a human being, and from that, deserves a basic level of respect. That's something that has carried through everything I do, and that's my mother's influence there.
I guess that's how she lives on - by how much you could see of her in all of her kids.
My mother was one of those people that seemed to do everything. It just seemed like nothing was too hard for her. She would raise a brood of nine kids, drive them all to school and pick them up, and still find time for each of them. And then she would be involved with helping out with charity work, the local school canteens and the local church activities. Even when she was battling cancer.
But I still feel like I have a relationship with my mother even though she was sick for much of my childhood. And even though I've had no direct contact with my mother since I was a teenager, my mother has been a constant influence in my life. I still often think about what my mother would do. She had a strength about her and of her convictions that I think has carried on in her children - we're all very much people that get up and go, and don't sit and wait for life to happen to us. That's the influence of our mother showing through. We have many of her mannerisms, and many of us still hold her belief system. I know that my own personal belief that every person is valued by virtue of being a human being, and from that, deserves a basic level of respect. That's something that has carried through everything I do, and that's my mother's influence there.
I guess that's how she lives on - by how much you could see of her in all of her kids.