Mother’s Day Cards from the Other Side

This is my first Mother’s Day where I won’t be able to visit my late mother and bring her flowers and a card.

No worries, though, because I have in my possession every Mother’s Day card that I gave my mother before she passed away last month. I have every birthday card I gave her as well. Every Christmas card, every Easter card.

The cards are in a bin that Mom prepared years ago for each of her six kids as she was organizing her things from the old farmhouse where we grew up. I’ve had the bin for a while but didn’t really look at it until the days leading up to her funeral two weeks ago.

The first shock upon opening the bin was discovering that Mom saved not only every card I ever gave her, but also every card given to her by my three sons over the years. Each card was dated—not by us, but by her—creating a card registry that went back more than thirty years.

The even bigger shock was seeing the little notes that Mom wrote on the inside of the cards we gave her. It was not enough for her that she read our expressions of love and appreciation. She felt the need to express her own feelings in return.

On one Mother’s Day card, next to a message about how her love touches my life every single day, she wrote, “Can you ‘feel’ my tears!! Xxoo”

On a birthday card expressing thanks for all the times she silently worried about me and dreamed good things for my future, she wrote, “This sentiment is priceless! I could not love you—and the boys—more. – Mom”

A lot of people save the cards their kids give them. But how many people write messages in those cards before putting them into the memory box?

That was Mom. She intended for us to read her messages when she was gone, to let us know how much she loved and appreciated them. Our gift to her would be a future gift to us from beyond the grave.

The card that really got me was a Mother’s Day card from ten years ago. On the front of the card is an angel in a red dress holding a cat. I remember buying the card, thinking how perfect it was for Mom, being that she was an angel and that she always looked good in red.

Inside, next to my message thanking her for her love and support over the years, Mom wrote—“I will always be there even when you can’t see me anymore. You will endure because you are tough!”

There I was, just a couple days before her funeral, wondering how I could go on in a world without her in it, and it was as if my mother was standing right next to me, gripping my arm, giving me that steely look of determination I remember so well—

I will always be there …

You will endure …

You are tough!

How many times she said those words to me when I was going through challenging times in my life. And she was still telling me.

What they say about a mother’s love is true. It lasts forever. For me, it’s written in the cards.

For all you mothers out there, enjoy your special day. And many happy returns.