Dark clouds with "We have a special greeting for..." floating in the center.

A Mother’s Day Greeting

I’ve been using Amazon Alexa devices for over a year.  At least once a month, I get an email from Amazon telling me about the cool things Alexa can do.  I just received such an email, and the subject was Send a Mother’s Day greeting with Alexa.

So, I asked her, “Alexa, can you send a Mother’s Day greeting to my mother in heaven?”

She thought about it for maybe a second and then said, “Hmm, I’m not sure.”

I’m not going to try and get a refund from Amazon because Alexa couldn’t do what they said she could do.  I don’t really think Alexa devices have made their way into heaven yet.  (However, Amazon is pretty good at marketing!) But then I stopped to think, what if….

This is my second motherless Mother’s Day.  That’s the only kind I’ll get to celebrate now.  But I’m not alone.  I know too many people who only get to celebrate motherless Mother’s Days.  But what if…

What if Alexa could send a Mother’s Day greeting to my mother in heaven?  If given the chance, what would I really say?  What would you say?

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My Mother’s Day Greeting

One of the last photos of my mother and I, taken during Christmas, about two months before she died.
One of the last photos of my mother and I. Taken about two months before she died.

Here’s the dilemma I’ve given myself: if I could really send a Mother’s Day greeting to my mother in heaven – kind of like a tweet on Twitter – what would I say?

I could try and tell her how sorry I am that I didn’t spend more time talking to her while she was alive.  Maybe I could squeeze in my regrets for not having more patience with her during the last few years of her life.  That would be more of a glass-is-half-empty kind of greeting; not very celebratory.

If I focused on positive greetings, I could thank her for giving me life and loving me.  I might attach a list of all the things she did for me during her life, but that would be a pretty long list.  Somehow, I don’t really think that would be appropriate anymore.  That window of opportunity is closed – forever.

If you think this is an easy thing to do, you’d be wrong!  It’s not.  There is nothing easy about sending a greeting to your mother in heaven.

Black and white photo of my mom and I when I was a young lad.
My mother and I (circa a long time ago)

There just aren’t any words to express the inexpressible.  I know a lot of words, but they all seem utterly meaningless, considering the positive and overwhelming impact this woman had on my life.

What do I say?

I’ve been driving myself crazy with this for the last few hours.  If I had one chance – one message – what would it be?  If words couldn’t say what I want to say, then what is left?

I think this may very well be one of those “less is more” things.  I’m hoping my mother knew how I felt, even though I rarely told her.  I’m hoping she took those feelings with her when she left.  Maybe I’ll find out for sure some future day.  Maybe it will be on a Mother’s Day.

For now, though, this would be my message:

Hi, mom.
I miss you every day.
I’ll love you forever.
Happy Mother’s Day!

Keep it simple, right?

Until Amazon figures out a way to get Alexa into heaven, I’ll send my Mother’s Day greeting the old fashioned way.  I’ll write it on a helium-filled balloon, let it go, and hope it finds its destination.

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Until We Meet Again

My mother and her mother when mom was a bridesmaid.
My mother, as a bridesmaid, standing with her mother (my grandmother).

I’m very fortunate in that I was able to have my mother in my life until I turned sixty.  We lost my maternal grandmother when my mom was in her mid-40’s.  Some people lose their mother even sooner than that.

I don’t know anything definitive about the afterlife.  All I have are my beliefs.  I do believe in God, and I do believe in heaven.  I believe that my mother is now in the spiritual presence of her mother, and her mother’s mother, etc.

When I ponder such things, as I have frequently done over the last 15 months, I hope so very much that I will once again spend time with my mother, in whatever form it may be, when my own time on this earth is over.

I wish a very sincere Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers of this world (and the next).

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