How do you title something like this?

I took a break from my very rare internet blogging to deal with some family issues. I had hoped for a better resolution than this and an opportunity to possibly donate bone marrow for my mother.

Sadly, she died on the 9th. I spent the week in Warminster with my father and sister planning the funeral. It was as surreal as it gets. One week I'm talking to my mom about politics and the next I'm picking out what clothes to bury her in.

If my mother wanted anything for me, it was my happiness. She and my father taught me important lessons about how to treat people. The main thing my parents have done for me as an adult was to unconditionally accept me as I was. They never once made comments about who I dated, my living situation, my career choice, what college I attended or anything else. They were nothing but supportive. My mother never gave unsolicited advice. And when she gave advice, she told me I was always free to ignore it and do what I thought was best because she didn't raise an idiot.

My mother wasn't perfect, but she did manage to just accept people as they were and not constantly judge them for not being enough. I see countless examples of parents and families who look down on each other for things that really should be non-issues.

Possibly the best piece of advice my father ever gave me was "Your job is not YOU."

It hasn't entirely sunk in yet that I'll never have an opportunity to talk to my mother again. I think her being sick in the hospital for so long made it somewhat usual for her to be absent. I think it'll really hit me when I return back to work on Monday and pause to decide whether I should go home first or visit my mother first.

It's hard to know what the future holds from here. It's hard period.