You Can't Be Afraid of Life

 You can't be afraid of life.  Mom said this to me in one of the last conversations we had.   She passed away yesterday.  My mom and I have always been very close, but over the last eight weeks of medical trials and turbulations, we became closer yet, and left nothing unsaid.

 My mom was a fighter.  She fought MS for over four decades, and did so with incredible positivity, strength and endurance.  She was always looking for ways to laugh and find joy.  She surrounded herself with groups of friends whom she shared a wide variety of interests with and who she loved dearly. She was married to the love of her life, my father, for almost 56 years.  She was a role model for taking life by the horns and doing all you can regardless of its challenges.  She was not done yet, but sadly her body gave out long before her spirit.  It is that spirit that will live on in her family and those who knew and loved her.