Mother’s Day.

I didn’t get to spend Mother’s Day with all five of my children today.

Like a lot of you.

I was missing a daughter and son.

Like a lot of you.

I tried to live in the moment.

Like a lot of you.

I had moments of grief.

Like a lot of you.

I haven’t lost a child.

Like a lot of you have.

But I have lost a child that was close to me. My sister’s oldest child, Andrew Bryson Odenthal, who died at the age of 22. I think of him every day. He would be 33 now. I grieve for him every day and I grieve for my sister every day.

Like a lot of you do for your sister or brother or best friend.

Today was a good day.

Today was a hard day.

Today was an unimaginably hard day for my little sister.

As it was for some of you.

Will it ever get better?

No.

It won’t.

I am thinking of all of you who have lost a child.

I am thinking of all of you who embrace Mother’s Day as a celebration of the children you love and have.

And those that you have lost.

You are not alone.

You are not unseen.

You are loved.

You are prayed for.

You are held.