ANNIVERSARY

When I think of the word "anniversary" I always think of marriage. I suppose it's the most common usage of the word - or at least the most common to me. But all it means is "the date on which an event took place in a previous year." Just a simple statement of fact. It can be used for all sorts of events: first day at a job, first day one committed to being sober, first day you arrived on this planet (also known as your birthday)... but it's not limited to firsts. It can also commemorate lasts: the anniversary of a loved one's death. Their last day on this planet.

I think of that on this day, as I hug my own mother tightly and feel a twinge in my heart for my dear friend who's mother died 7 years ago today. It was rather sudden - a heart failure - and even though the family knew she had a bad heart, her premature departure from this world was not easy to accept. I'm lucky enough not to know this yet, but I would bet that the death of your mother is hard no matter what the circumstances. 

And yet, as I write those words above - heart failure, bad heart, premature departure - I can't help but think that maybe this anniversary was also a first for her. My friend's mother might have had a weak heart by our physical standards, but she had a big & good heart by higher standards. Her heart may have failed her body, but perhaps it allowed her to be released from physical constraints to a place of higher consciousness and true freedom. Her premature departure from this world may have been right on time for her own journey into the first day of a new world for her.

I'd rather think of it that way on this quiet day, on her anniversary.