Lessons from Loving and Losing My Mum

This is a photo of my mum and me from 2011. We had just bought a block of land and were showing her where we planned to build . She was full of life, working as a nurse, staying active, and always up for shopping, coffee, and cake.

In 2018, everything changed when mum had a medical episode and was diagnosed with early onset dementia.
In 2020, she faced another battle, stage 4 mucosal melanoma.
And in 2022, after contracting COVID, she passed away just 13 days later.

There are so many things I wish I could do differently.
I wish I had sought help for her sooner.
I wish I had made more memories with her.
I wish I had told her I loved her every single day, while she still understood what it meant. 

But through the heartache, I am forever grateful for the time we did share.
Grateful that I could be there, holding her hand, loving her right until the very end.

If I can offer any advice from this experience, it would be this:
Slow down.
Savour every moment.
Hug those you love.
Tell them you love them, often and without hesitation.
Never take a single day or a single person for granted.

Life is precious and heartbreakingly short. xx