Life Carries On

It feels weird to let a year go by without commemorating one of the most significant days of my life.

You see, eight years ago on March 29^th, my mother passed away from breast cancer.

This irrevocably changed my life and has become a significant part of my identity. It is almost impossible for me to talk about who I am or what I have done without defining that as the backdrop.

Something I have learned since moving to Oklahoma is that lives move on. I have moved to Oklahoma and must continue in the day-to-day comings and goings of my life. While I miss my friends, and I know they miss me, they too must continue in their lives.

In such a way, my life has continued without my mother. I have grown as a separate individual.

This year, March 29^th fell the day after I returned from ACPA. I spent the day at work catching up on things I had missed through the week. It was only during a brief ten minutes that I was sitting at my desk between my regular work hours and a student-run program in the evening that I even realized the significance of the day.

That’s how long it has been. I’ve gone from feeling the pain of her loss every year to barely remembering. Maybe I should feel guilty about that. But I don’t. It is a special day in my life that I do commemorate in my mind and in my heart. But my life has moved on.

I still remember. I still hold tight to the memory of my mother. It’s still something that has changed my life. But I have moved out of the pain and into the living.