Lora writing. I had this blog partially written when on Thursday night (Kathmandu time, only 48 hours ago) before I had a chance to finish and share it, I received a phone call that my mother, Gloria, had died. My mom was 71 and was in seemingly good health. The call was as unexpected as her death, and I have been rotating between shock, tears, and figuring out logistics in order to get all four of us home to Canada ASAP. It is now Saturday evening at 10:00, and small miracle, big grace (thanks to the Presbyterians’ travel agent)– we are at the Kathmandu airport checked in and waiting to board an 11 pm flight tonight, Saturday, through Hong Kong to Toronto, arriving at 2pm Sunday local time in Ontario. I am so grateful to those of you who have reached out and loved and prayed for us these last two days, and for those of you who are just learning this news, we are grateful for your love as well.

My mom was a vibrant, deeply loving, challenging and great hugging woman. She loved good rituals, good books, songs, theatrics (and theatre), reading to her children and grandchildren and caring for the world and those who came in contact with her. She loved fiercely and lived authentically- sometimes making life difficult for those around her, but she was always there with a warm welcome and open arms even in difficult moments. I am so grateful for her life and that I had the opportunity to share it with her. She was an amazing grandmother and aunt and a great mother-in-law. She will be dearly missed.

A dear friend of mine from high school sent a message to me, ending with this line, “We know there is an inevitable next step from what was to whatever is now. There is love and there is presence and there is the unknown. And she is all of them.”

She is all of them. My mom wrote a blog with poetry. Here is her post from Easter.

We hold memories, yes, but we are not those memories. We are who we are, today.”
-Ram Dass

Seventy One years I have spent on this earth,
A Friday of sorrow, a Saturday of waiting, anticipation hope rising, a trumpet call,
crocus blooms, snow drops, tulip buds, daffodils
families, friends communities gathering, hunts for baskets for eggs, laughter when bunnies are found melted on registers forgotten in the bunnies hurried hiding, bubbles of joy,
new life rising in the yesterday in the today’s, stories, myths cherished filled with sprouts of faith, eggs cracking chick’s birth,
memories flood, today’s choices, visioning possibilities in the midst of wars presence, visioning future born anew
I am who I am today.