Missing my mother

I deeply miss my mother. Although I took care of her for almost the last 2.5 years, she gave me a gift that I hope everyone can or will have a chance to receive. A chance to really know my mother and to be a friend and a companion as well as a son. It is often difficult to tell those we love how we feel, but this was not the case here. She got a goodnight hug and kiss every night before I left to go home after dinner, cleaning up and making sure she was OK. She lived as she wanted to, and almost died as she wanted to. My duty is now to protect her culinary and literary legacy, as well as my father's papers.