It was a year ago today that my mother died. In reflecting on the circumstances surrounding this week a year ago, it occurred to me that I never properly took the time to express my appreciation to everyone in the department for their comfort and support. Please allow me this brief opportunity to do so.
I am grateful to everyone for their kind expressions of sympathy and understanding. It was certainly a very traumatic time for myself and my family, especially for my father and for my mom's older sister who raised her after their parents died.
While we were gradually preparing for the inevitable, it was a blessing to know that we were in so many people's prayers. The one thing that the entire experience did do for us is to bring us closer together as a family, and to remind us that there is more to life than that which exists in these physical bodies.
Mom had great difficulty in bearing children. She endured a number of miscarriages and never had an easy time giving birth. She has even had to bury a number of her own children. My brother Peter died when he was 3 years old, about 4 months before my brother Michael was born. I was barely six at the time, yet I remember that night quite vividly. We have also had to bury two others; James, who died at 10 days old, and Mark, who was stillborn. This is certainly a very painful thing for any parent to have to do.
Because of her own hardships in having and raising children, Mom always had a soft spot in her heart for those children who endured great suffering through no fault of their own. The mission of St Jude's, to care for such children, was always a charity that she encouraged the family to give contributions to, whenever possible.
I know that she would have appreciated the donation that the department made to St Jude's in her name. I am grateful to everyone for making this gesture in lieu of sending flowers. We considered it an effort that was certainly worthy of her memory.
I would like to give special thanks to several people for their efforts on both my family's and my own behalf during those trying times.
Thank you to Jackie Milingo and Kevin Sullivan,
for sharing their thoughts on the loss of one of their parents. I appreciated
your insights and am glad that you chose to share them. It was easier to
be able to talk to someone who had a comparable frame of reference.
Thanks again, people!
Most especially I would like to express my humblest and sincerest gratitude to two people who made an outstanding effort in ministering to my needs and the needs of my family during a time of great difficulty for us. These two people are Linda Christie and Bijan Nemati.
Linda co-ordinated many efforts through her church, to which my older brother Paul belongs. Thank you, Linda, for all your efforts on our family's behalf, they were greatly appreciated.
Bijan took me into his home and he and his family shared my grief at Mom's impending death and helped me to remember that it was not the end, but rather a new beginning. Thank you, Bijan, my friend and my brother, for sharing the light that I needed to see at that very trying time.
I thank everyone else for thinking of us during our times of despair and subsequent consolation. I hope you will forgive me for not expressing these thoughts sooner. I thank you for letting me intrude upon your busy day and for letting me ramble on in a very therapeutic manner.
Peace,
Stephen Richichi