Eulogy for a Mother from a Son

Mom was a unique woman. I remember as a young boy going into her room, which I always felt to be a magical place. Her dresser was always filled with trinkets and bracelets and gems, which I felt had magical powers. She had the most amazing artwork on her walls, which again I associated with magical powers.

Not like ordinary people, mom used to place ornaments and angels way up high on her ceiling and even had a disco ball handing from her light. I used to think at nighttime she stayed up light, and perhaps performed some kind of magic when we were all sleeping to keep us all safe at night.

I know mom worked hard, harder than most, because she was a single mother to the three of us. But you wouldn’t know it to look at her. Her hair was piled up high on her head, her makeup always perfect, and her house tidy and clean.

She would wake up early, get us all organized and set for school, kiss us on the head and tell us to study hard, because we were going to make something of ourselves.

You would never assume that mother was different from anyone else, except that sometimes she would leave after we went to bed at night to work a second shift, or fall asleep for a short nap on the weekends, but only after she played several rounds of monopoly with us, and baked us ninja cookies, which we loved best. In many ways, she was a bit of a miracle mother. Looking back I am not quite sure how she did it.

I know something was odd these last few months when mom wasn’t her peppy self, and she stopped her usual Sunday calls, which were a regular for the last 35 years of my life. The last time I visited her she smiled, but it was a tight smile. So I had the pleasure of tucking her into bed at night for a while, into her still magical room, filled with trinkets. I’ve since learned they don’t have the powers I thought they had, at least not to save my mom from imminent death. But, we joked during the last few weeks of her life that they would transport her to a world that was filled with rainbow rays and sunshine, that was brighter than you or I could ever imagine.

I am quite sure that my mom is somewhere magical today, and probably laughing the brilliant way that she always did, with her hair piled on high, maybe making magical ninja cookies, just waiting for the day that we can reunite. Thank you mom, for all of the tireless effort to give us a good life, and the absolutely amazing memories. You were the best inspiration a young man could have. May moonbeams continue to fill your heart, and light your eyes wherever you may be.