It’s been a while. A year and a half, actually, since I’ve shared a blog post or written anything publicly. What’s been going on?
 
The short answer: Life has gotten in the way. The long answer is a bit more complicated.
 
Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, my mother passed away after a short illness—and I was shattered. My mother, who was my best friend, my mentor, and someone I looked up to for advice, left me empty with her death. In the days, weeks, and months after her passing, I felt lost and unanchored.

?It is hard to believe that during the time of Covid-19, one could find a silver lining. But I did. With the pile of restrictions that comes with a pandemic, I did not and would not consider in-patient hospice care for my mother’s final weeks—I couldn’t bear the thought of not being able to comfort her at this time. As some of you may know, it was not long ago that I was still working as a registered nurse—and once a registered nurse, always a registered nurse—so, I was determined to provide my mother with in-home hospice care instead of leaving her in strange hands. I won’t lie, there is nothing harder to do than to give your own mother the magic drug, morphine—yet despite it all, I am grateful that she took her last breaths in my arms, crossing over into Heaven as the powerful and charismatic soul that she was.