IT’S HARD TO LET GO, BUT YOU DO IT, ANYWAY
I am happy to report that my mom, aka ‘Mrs. B,’ is now happily installed in her new digs and is once again a (temporary) resident of Baton Rouge … In the end, it’s all ‘things,’ and what matters most is that the people you care for are OK. But some of those ‘things’ carry more emotional weight than others.
“I held my breath when my mom held up her ruined wedding dress that she had saved from 1950. The once pale pink dress was stained with red dye from the coat that had been stacked on top if it in her cedar chest that went underwater. She let it go into the trash bag, and I had to stop myself from grabbing it back. Surely, we could fix it! I remembered her showing it to me so many times as a child, and I marveled at how tiny her waist was back then.
“But then I thought, if she was ready to move on, then so was I. ‘Nothing you can do about it,’ she said, matter of factly.
“There is grace in acceptance of ‘what is’ instead of ‘what used to be.’ And despite the material losses, the gifts we have received in the form of time, effort, hugs and caring have been phenomenal. Strangers have fed us, come to check on us. We are truly a fortunate community.
“I’m going to miss my roommate of the last 11 days. It’s been a lot of years since we last lived together. This wasn’t the way I would have wanted to spend time with my mom, but I sure did enjoy her company. ‘Come visit me once in a while, now that you live closer,’ I told her as I left her new dwelling.
NOTE: See more inspiring Louisiana flood stories at http://bit.ly/2bJaPm2