Love You Forever

I remember one day, when I was in elementary school my mom came home and read me this book. My mom worked at another elementary school, where they were having a book fair and she discovered this book.

I don’t remember how many times my mom read this book to me. It’s countless. That book she brought home is now falling apart, has stains and marks all over it.

She loved that book. Every time a grand-child was born, she would buy the book, write an inscription to the child and then give it to the mom.

When I lived in Texas, I became extremely close to a friend and started calling her “mommy”. She’s a year younger than me, but she did and helped me with everything. When I moved from Texas, I went to the store bought her this book, wrote an inscription and gave it to her. When she opened the present she cried, because it was her favorite book too. I had no clue.

Shortly after my mom died, I gave my aunt the original book for safe keeping. I was moving around so much, I didn’t want it to get lost or even more destroyed. This is when I discovered that the book was my aunt’s favorite too. My aunt never knew how much my mom loved this book.

This year on the anniversary of my mom’s death, a group of my family gathered at my aunt’s house and we had a ‘story time’ reading of this book. It was such a powerful, meaningful and fulfilling moment.

I always say that my mom is still watching out and over me. I’ve been struggling a lot with changes happening in my life lately. Today I was cleaning out my grand-father’s closet when I stumbled across these beauties.

“I’ll love you forever,
I’ll like you for always,
as long as I’m living
my baby you’ll be.”

My mom might not be living anymore, but I know she still loves and cares for me.

And that caries me on.