Dear Mary - 5/11/2026

Dear Mom,

Yesterday was Mother’s Day. 

It was the 16th Mother’s Day that I have spent without you.

I struggled again to turn away from the joy around the celebration. I stuttered through countless inquires from colleagues about if I was a mother and how I planned to spend the day.

I would repeat plainly no I’m not a mother and my own mother is dead and gone.

I changed the channel when commercials would come on about department store sales. I muted the volume and turned away from the television when the morning newscast shared pictures of their news anchors with their mother’s during the Friday morning.

I turned into Shauna the social media butterfly on Threads and posted six times. I even shared this website with family and friends. I did everything I could to make amends.

But truth be told, I hate seeing generations of women being photographed together. I hate seeing women my age with their mothers screaming with laughter like long lost friends.

Nothing soothes my soul during Mother’s Day. You are gone and I’m still here and its just not fair that the world gets to continue on while I am forced to mask this sorrow.

These days I rarely say your name, but I want you to know that there is not one moment of they day that I don’t think about you and wish you were here. 

Until we meet again, I pray that I see you in my dreams often. I love you mom.

- Your Child