From when I tutored Pre-Calculus, I remember an interesting word problem involving inverse proportions (yeah, I'm a geek). It was about the fact that the older one gets, the shorter each year seems. That partially explains why it's hard to believe that today is the 2nd anniversary of when my mom died. Once in a while I'll think--for a split second--that I need to call and tell her something. Other times, it feels like it has been forever since I saw or talked to her. It's such a sad thing to lose someone you love. When people say that a hard part of enduring a loved one's death is that it's so permanent, you can't fully understand until you have first-hand experience.As time seems to go faster and faster, it feels like there are constantly formal occasions to think of and miss Mom. There are holidays like her birthday (in April), Mother's Day (just a few weeks ago), Memorial Day weekend (just after she died), my birthday, Dad's birthday, Andrew's birthday, my parents' anniversary, and of course Thanksgiving and Christmas. Then there are the less formal moments when I wish she were with us laughing at a family story, or here to give me a hug.
When I think of her, it's often to remember how many great things she brought to our lives. But there's a silent wishing she were still here. It would be great to go back a decade or more, and have the time to spend with Mom. According to inverse proportion word problems, if I could relive those years they'd feel like they passed more slowly. Yet only as adults can we understand how much a parent loves us. By then, the time rushes by.
