Helping the Helpers

Yesterday, my mom would’ve turned 72. The older I get, the younger that seems.

She’s been gone for 3.5 years now. My mind knows it’s real, but my subconscious often reaches for the phone and starts to dial her before my conscious mind catches up.

We are a product of our patterns.

My mom was a caregiver. First with her kids, then her grandmother, dad, mother, and husband - my dad. She rarely prioritized herself, and often ran herself ragged. My last argument with her was about this, 3 weeks before she suddenly died. She was going to cancel a trip to meet up with her best friends because my grandmother, her mother, had a cold and she was worried even though I was scheduled to be there.

She yelled at me saying she was worried about her mother. I yelled back saying I was worried about mine.

This is why I write about not missing your life…about how today is the good day. We are here right now. This is all we have. We owe it to ourselves to remember this when our world seems overwhelming.

There isn’t a day of my life that I don’t profoundly miss my mom. She has left a void so deep that it is only soothed by the fact that she was here at all. My brother and I talk about her (and my dad) all the time. We hear them in our conversations and recognize them in our commitments.

If you knew and loved Susan Mercurio, or even if you didn’t, I have an ask for you this weekend:

Take a moment to pause and reflect on the people who make this world a better place. Reach out, thank, and support a helper you know.

This includes YOU, too. You are a helper and deserve to thank yourself and give yourself some love, rest, and support, too.

In these tumultuous times <let’s face it - we’re always in tumultuous times, some crazier than others>, we often pay attention to the ugly headlines first. It’s important to be in the know and it’s just as important to remember that there are more people doing beautiful things in the world out of the love and goodness within them.

We never know when it will be our final goodbye. Spend some time today fueling yourself and those you love.

You matter.

xox, Michelle

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