My mom was a beautiful person. She was capable of giving so much love and light. She did everything she could to give me all she could. The attributes I have/learned thanks to my mom are countless - kindness, resilience, openness, empathy, and of course an adventurous spirit. We were fortunate to see many places together, giving me the travel bug at a young age. These trips were often action-packed, going zip lining, rafting, horseback riding, skydiving, glacier trekking - she had a knack for getting people out of their comfort zones and rolled with the punches like no other. One of her favorite travel stories to tell was from the time we went to France with my dear friend Emma. It was my mom’s dream to go biking in Provence, so surely we did. Emma and I were 16, on the soccer team – my mom was in better shape than us by a mile. The bike ride was absolutely stunning, but mostly uphill and quite challenging. Mom was handling the incline with ease, living her dream while Emma and I were in actual tears lagging behind. No one should have been surprised, as she was an avid spin class attendee. We could hardly walk the following days and she was completely fine. She got a real kick out of this and gladly took the bragging rights of being in better shape than two 16-year-olds.
The thing is, even while she was teasing us and poking fun, she was our cheerleader through it all. My mom was one to reassure, motivate, push, and then give you a big hug at the end.
I’ll miss my travel buddy every trip and my cheerleader everyday.