Ten lessons my mom taught me, on this, the tenth anniversary of her death.

breast cancer motherhood Oct 02, 2019

The 2 October 2009 was a beautiful spring day in Johannesburg. It was warm, the riot of spring flowers were on full display and the sky, through the vibrant green of the new leaves, was an endless cornflower blue. It was not the right kind of weather to die. I remember the details of that day so clearly because it was my mom’s last day on this earth. At 3:30 in the afternoon, in her own bed, she breathed her last ragged breath surrounded by her family. Ironically, she was diagnosed with breast cancer during breast cancer awareness month and died several years later in the same month.

Ten years on I still miss her terribly and think of her every day. I wish she had been here when my kids were born, but I will never forget what she taught me about mothering.  During her last few weeks she and I spent many hours filling out “The mother’s book” created by Elma van Vliet. It is  a journal filled with questions for daughters to ask their mothers: when did...

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