On this, our first Thanksgiving without you, my heart is full of thanksgiving for you.  Thank you for being my mother, for being there for me, for raising Jordan with me, for loving us all so fiercely, for teaching us about traditions, for walking me down the aisle, for making all my maternity clothes, for thinking I was beautiful, for carrying my purse, for crying with me during “Please Don’t Go”, for always knowing what to say, for looking for me, for teaching me how to cook, how to sew, and how to be a mother, and in April, how to be a grandmother.  I love you.  I miss you.  These holidays will never be same without you here with us. 

My sweet mother left this life on January 7, 2014.  Since that day, we've lived through  what would have been her 69th birthday, Easter, and now today, Mother's Day.  I wonder if she knows that the family she left behind to join my father in Heaven, would be so devastated by her loss.  I believe she would not.  Left to mourn her passing, are her three children, her 2 son in laws and her daughter in law, her 7 grandchildren, and one great grandchild.  She also left behind so many memories, and so many lessons on what a Mother is.

She taught us selflessness.  She left school in the 6th grade to care for her mother, without complaint, without resentment.   She put her children before her in all things, all the time, exactly the same way.  

She taught us to work hard.  She cleaned houses to keep our family going when we were young, she washed dishes, cleaned a restaurant and made sopaipillas all day long...often coming home crying because her feet hurt so much.  She rolled our neighbors hair for $5 a day in order to get us through school.

She taught us how to love.  She went to our schools all the time, in the background, quietly making cupcakes, going on our field trips, making puppets.  She made our easter dresses, by hand, made sure we had presents at Christmas.

She taught us how to treasure traditions.  Christmas means tamales.  Road trips mean fried chicken at rest stops.  

She taught us that the most important thing is family.  To love each other.  To help each other.  To be good to each other.  

My mother helped me raise my son.  From the minute he was born.  She loved him, and  he loved her.  She was as much a mom to him as I am. 

Today I remember my Mother.  Every day for the rest of my life, I will remember my Mother and everything that she taught me, and everything that she meant to me.  I love you and miss you on this Mother's Day and I thank you for everything that you taught me.  Rest in peace, Elvira, until we see each other again.

 

I love and miss you so much that I can hardly breathe.  Your 69th birthday was on April 30, 2014.  I sensed last year that you wouldn't be here for it this year, but my heart didnt want to believe what my head kept saying.  I will never forget you.  You are always in my heart Elvira.  Rest in peace my sweet.