Today would’ve been my mother’s Harriet Future 81st birthday, but she passed away three and a half years ago. She left behind three beautiful daughters and six amazing grandchildren. I had just spoken to her the day before her passing. Two days prior to that, I ran an errand for her, so she didn’t have to take the bus in the humid ninety-degree heat.

She was still getting around on her own. Taking the bus wherever she needed to go. Living nearby her made it easy for me to check on her. I would call her to ask if she needed things from the store or to go anywhere, but to my surprise, she would have gone already. With me having health problems, she didn’t want to call on me as much. So instead, she took her tiny shopping cart and went herself.

Boy did that make me mad sometimes because living in a big city means lots of traffic. But then I realized even at her age, she was still taking care of me as much as I was taking care of her. That’s what called a mother’s love.

Sometimes I find myself with tears streaming from my eyes as I miss her so much. A childhood friend of my mother who grew up with her in a small town in South Carolina told me the following. You will never stop grieving for your loved one, just make sure to keep living your life.