Anyone else’s mom on Facebook?
Well I found out this morning that my mom must be!
Today, September 1st is/would have been my mom’s 88th birthday. Sadly, cancer took her away from us in 1980. So, how can she be on Facebook?
The 1st posts that I saw as I opened Facebook this morning was the ‘’memory’’ of a 2 year old post where I posted about the fact that it was my mom’s birthday. I smiled and got a tad bit emotional and decided to accept Facebook’s invitation to re-post it. I then went on to YouTube to find a really cute video clip; one that my mom and I (and my siblings) would sing to in a fun, silly way. I then posted the Muppet’s Manumanum song with the intention of singing this to my mom as her happy birthday song. Sweet, right?
Does anyone else hate the new thing on Facebook where the audio turns on really loud when you scroll by a post that has audio? I HATE, hate, haaaaaate it. EXCEPT….. Immediately after I posted the birthday wish to my mom, I scrolled on an image that had audio associated with it. My breath was taken away momentarily because suddenly I heard a ghost. I heard a melody that my mom often played so beautifully on the piano when I was a child. OK… after I stopped sobbing my eyes out I thought to myself…. Wow… my mom is on Facebook!
Of course I then laughed hysterically in a weird, ‘’am I losing it?’’ kind of way. Reminiscent of when my husband Peter said to me (when we were sitting together on a patio having a lovely cappuccino) Honey, I feel like I’m living in a bad country song. I looked at him rather strangely and asked him to elaborate. A little bit of background history of what happened in the previous year or so: his mom passed away after a very challenging few years of taking care of her, he was in a car accident and our cute little Sheltie dog Kiara died moments before he made that weird statement. His statement went something like this:
Imagine a really bad country twang/accent as he said this:
Ma Maw died, ma truck got broked and ma dawg just done died.
Of course I spit my coffee out and looked at him while he was laughing hysterically…. Just like my ‘’ Am I losing it?’’ kind of laugh. My reaction was to tell him ‘’….. um….. Honey, I am not sure if I should laugh or call a shrink for you. We both laughed pretty hard most of that day!
Well… this morning’s lovely walk down emotional lane made me think of all the people that I know that are struggling with grief. Things have changed since the early 80’s. It used to be taboo to talk about sadness and grief. There was no help available. Most people did not know what to say or how to act around someone struggling with grief and depression. Thank God that is no longer the case!
The point of my blog today is to let you know/remind you that there is help out there. Grief is real and intense and it CAN BE TAMED so that you don’t have to struggle for any longer than necessary.
If you live in the Ottawa area I want to let you know about a fabulous day event that is happening at the RA Centre on September 16th. The event is hosted by Jennifer Clark and Pierrette Raymond and is entitled
HEALING THROUGH GRIEF: TRANSFORM TRAGEDY INTO TRIUMPH
If you are struggling with recent or past grief I highly recommend that you attend. The support that you will get will be a life changer!
I know that being in public, with many people may be overwhelming when you are in the throes of grief. I truly believe that getting out there will be worth the effort.
Until then, get out there and move your body. Physical activity kept me sane. It will certainly help you as well.
Take care
Jackie
Oh, by the way… here is the manumanum song. Enjoy!