The Second Mother's Day

Last year, I was still shell-shocked. Mother’s Day was less than three months after my mother’s passing. I was lucky enough to spend her final days with her alongside my father, my wife, my brother and his wife, my nieces and nephew. My aunt was at the house every day, and so was my sister-in-law and her parents. My mother was beloved and she was surrounded by love as she transitioned from this world to the next. That is supposed to be a comfort and it is, in as much as there is comfort to be found in a loss so shattering.My mom thought Mother’s Day was overly commercialized and a racket. She hated how businesses charged triple for flowers and brunch was a noisy, crowded affair and television commercials in late April and May insisted on trying to sell the idea that we live in a world where mothers are truly valued. She preferred that we appreciated her consistently, not merely on the second Sunday in May, and we did, especially as we got older and better understood what appreciation…