Happy is a Choice

This is my first Mother's Day without my mother.  And 3 years ago this week, my doctor told St. Joel, "It's cancer."  And I didn't get a new minivan or gift certificate for plastic surgery for this morning.

I am not any more or less sad today about losing my mom because it's Mother's Day.  The everyday longing for her doesn't know the difference.  I miss her the same amount today as I did last Tuesday.  Mothers Day is simply another reminder that she is gone.

Happy is a choice and today, I choose happy.

Today I choose to be grateful I am a mother to 4 beautiful boys.  I choose to be grateful I am healthy. I choose to be grateful for St. Joel and our family and friends.  And I choose to take the same advice I give my kids, "You can be sad, you can miss what you don't have, but you cannot be miserable."  

I choose a happy mother's day.

Another day, another story,

Em