By Maria V. Gallagher, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation
The thing I miss most is her smile.
September sparks a number of memories for me. Her birthday, which my father, my sister, and I would celebrate with abandon. The back-to-school shopping which would yield new school uniforms and coats for the coming winter.
But, most of all, I remember the day of her death. I was in my office when I received the call. After a bout of what was presumed to be bladder cancer (she was too frail for a biopsy), my beloved mother was gone.
I called a friend, who agreed to accompany me as I broke the news to my sister. It was the hardest message I ever had to deliver.
It was so ironic that my mother passed away two days before her birthday. It made me think of the circle of life and how my mother had completed it with grace, dignity, and strength.
She was a fighter to the end.
She had had plenty of practice.
When she was carrying me in her womb, her employer let her go because of her pregnancy. She fought doubts and fears and financial catastrophe to bring me into the world.
My baby sister was born prematurely and lived in an incubator for the first days of her life. While many people counted my sister out, my mother believed that she would overcome the scary circumstances of her birth and survive.
And she did.
I owe so much to my mother, who showed such courage during her two unplanned pregnancies. I owe her my life.
So the tears will come this September, but they will be mixed with the joy of believing that my mother is finally home with the Lord.
