A Little of Both

It's been another busy week. DH and I flew out, checked into the B&B, and called mum to see how she felt about us choosing not to respect her wishes (with regards to visiting), now that she'd had a couple of days to get used to the idea. She invited us over for dinner. Things were looking up.

I completely understand her instinct to curl up into a ball and let the world go to hell. I'd feel like that, too, if my DH had just died. However, we just felt that maybe the best thing for her wasn't to sit and mourn her loss. We thought if we could interest her in the outside world, give her new sights and adventures and tastes, that she would forget for a minute about her misery and begin to see that there was still much good left in the world... even with her husband, the center of her universe, gone.

So off we went. We cooked Thai and Indian food, went out for dinner, shopped, and adventured all around Salt Spring Island. DH told stories from his deployment. We watched movies, ate cheesecake daily, and laughed. She told funny stories about Dad, and seemed to rise above the grief that we could see deep down.

She's strong. She'd have to be, to make it intact through the past few years. I know it will be hard, these next few days, with life returning to normal for everyone but her. Eventually she'll take that first step, and I bet there will be no stopping her then.

Before I left, I posted that at the least, DH and I will have a nice little holiday, and at best, there would be healing. We found a little of both in Nanaimo, and I think Mum did, too.

I miss her.