Happy Mother’s Day and sorry for the long personal post.
This is not a racquetball tip but more like a life tip!
I am so fortunate to meet so many great Moms out there in racquetball land. This is for you and your undying love for your children.
To anyone whose Mother is no longer with us, my heart goes out to you. I lost my mother over 30 years ago and not a day goes by that I do not miss her. For those of you fortunate to be with your Moms this mother’s day be sure to thank her and give her your love. How strong can a Mother’s love be? I have many examples with my mother but I will share one story that proves a Mother’s love is eternal!
When I discovered my mother had a terminal illness I was working; teaching 8th grade English on a Friday afternoon late in the school day.
I received an emergency call. I went down to the office to talk to my Dad who informed me my mother had been diagnosed with a terminal illness. When I came back to class, I was in shock. A little girl in my class asked what was wrong and without thinking I blurted out that I had just found out my mother was very sick. Every day that little girl asked me how my mother was doing. While my mother was suffering in her last days she found comfort in a book titled “Peace, Love and Healing”, by Dr Bernie Siegel.
I had bought Mom that book and after she died I kept the book. My mother’s nurse at the hospital happened to be the parent of a child I taught in school and that nurse was sure to tell my Mother what a great teacher I was. I remembered how comforting that was to my mother.
Not even a year later that same little girl who asked me every day how my mother was doing, told me her mother had cancer. What really hit me hard was the day the little girl told me about her mother’s illness, was my mother’s birth date. I gave the book my mother had enjoyed to the girl’s Mom with a note telling her what a special daughter she had raised. Her mother passed and the book came back to me. Wouldn’t you know that book in the years since made its way to many households of my students and even some racquetball students. The book was always sent with a special letter to Mom or Dad to accompany it; making sure to tell them how great their children were.
Just before I left NY to move to Arizona, I was mentioned in a eulogy given by another former student at her Mom’s funeral. It seems the power of that book and the special letter I had sent to her Mother four years earlier (when the girl was in my 8th grade class) was very powerful.
Sorry for the long personal story but a mother’s love is very powerful! It is immortal! Embrace it! And Happy Mother’s Day to all you special Moms out there!