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The rain slowly dripped off her umbrella as a cool wind blew her hair. She stood in the wet grass, staring at the headstone.
She had avoided coming here because she knew all the memories would come rushing back. Happy memories. Sad memories. Bittersweet memories. Memories of the day when she had lost her role model, her confidant, her friend.
Today was most important because today was her Mother's birthday. Even though it was sad in one respect, it was also a time of remembrance for the woman who had played such a vital part in shaping her life.
She slowly bent over to place a large bouquet of yellow daisies, her Mother's favorite flowers, against the headstone.
She blinked back the tears as memories flooded her mind.
On her first day of kindergarten, she clutched her Mother's hand. She wanted to be brave so it was not until she let go of her hand and walked toward the classroom door that she saw the tears in her Mother's eyes. She ran back to her as her Mother knelt down to give her a hug and told her she was a big girl now, and that she knew she could handle her first day of kindergarten on her own.
When she was seven, her new kitten had gotten sick and the veterinarian had given them some medicine to give to it. She awoke the next morning and ran to the living room to find her Mother dozing in a recliner with the kitten curled up on her lap. Her Mother had stayed awake throughout the night to give the medicine to the kitten and to be sure that it would be okay. Her Mother knew how much she loved the tiny animal and knew she would have been brokenhearted if it had died.
She had caught pneumonia when she was nine and her Mother slept in the chair next to her bed for three nights in a row, rarely leaving her side until she was better.
When she was ten, she won first place for her science project and she could still see her Mother's smile when she had told her.
Whenever she would return home after spending a few nights with relatives or friends, her Mother would always hug her and let her know how much she was missed.
She remembered the look of pride on her Mother's face as she listened to her give the valedictorian speech at her junior high graduation. At least one of her parents had been there. Her Dad had been away, working for the Air Force, and could not be there for her.
Her Mother's arms were there to comfort her when she had broken up with her first boyfriend. They spent the day together, letting her vent her hurt at how terrible the male species really was. That is, until the next cute boy came along.
When she had been upset for the one and only time she had received an A minus instead of an A plus on her report card, her Mother made her favorite peanut butter cookies to help her feel better. To this day, she couldn't smell peanut butter cookies without thinking of her Mother.
When she was barely thirteen, she accepted a dare from the boy next door to drive the family car around the block. She slipped into the house and took her Mother's car keys. She thought she had gotten away with it until she drove up in the driveway and there stood her Mother, arms crossed over her chest with a look of disappointment on her face. The boy had confessed that he had dared her to do it. She turned off the motor and sat staring straight ahead, gripping the steering wheel, as her Mother calmly opened the door. She slowly looked up at her as she placed the keys in her hand. She got out of the car and followed her into the house and stared at the floor as she could not bring herself to look at her. Her Mother took her by the hand and sat her down at the kitchen table and calmly told her how she would be punished, and if she ever did anything like that again, she would have to deal with her father next time. After the lecture, her Mother had hugged her and told her that she could have been injured or could have injured someone else. She had felt such remorse at disappointing her Mother, that she had vowed to never do anything like that again to upset her.
People had doubted her when she would tell them that she would be an astronaut some day, but her Mother never did. She always encouraged her to follow her heart, told her to reach for the stars and to not let anyone discourage her from her dream.
When she was eleven, her grandmother died suddenly. She remembered the look of devastation on her Mother's face and she had wondered what it would be like to lose a parent.
Tears ran down her cheeks as she remembered the day that had changed her life forever. She could still see her Dad's red-rimmed eyes as he came through the door to tell her and Mark that their Mother would not be coming home.
She had never felt such desolation as she had on the day of her Mother's funeral. Her Dad and Mark were lost in their own grief and she had never felt so alone in all her life.
After the funeral, they had returned to the house to greet the many people who had come to pay their respects. Her Dad expected her to mingle, when all she really wanted to do was go to her room, pull the covers over her head, shut out the world and hope that all this was just a really bad nightmare.
She swallowed the lump in her throat as she remembered the events of her Mother's death had caused a time of estrangement for her and Mark from their Dad.
For more nights than she could remember, she cried herself to sleep. Not just from the loneliness, but for the realization that her Mother would not be there to help her grow from a young teenager into a woman, and she desperately needed her Mother's love and guidance.
For the longest time after her Mother died, she would dream about her. She would tell her what was going on in her life and her Mother simply listened. The dreams would always end with her Mother telling her that she loved her and was proud of her.
Her gaze turned from her Mother's grave to the one beside it and she bit her lip as she stifled a sob. Several months ago, they had laid her Dad to rest, here beside her Mother. She had known that after all these years, her Dad had never fully recovered from losing his wife.
She was glad that she and her Dad had reconciled and tried not to think about all those years they had wasted when they had been estranged from each other.
As it started to rain harder, she realized how tightly she was gripping the umbrella.
She thought about how quickly time had passed. It seemed that just yesterday she was a little girl, wanting so badly to grow up and fulfill her dream of going into space.
She saw movement from the corner of her eye. Jack was patiently waiting several feet from her as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other and held an umbrella over his head.
She turned her head to look at him and a smile came to his face as if to say 'I'm here for you and everything will be okay.'
She looked back at the headstone.
She had daydreamed out loud with her Mother, about meeting the man she hoped one day to marry. He would be handsome, intelligent, funny and kind. One of the first things that she had thought about when she and Jack had married, was how much her Mother would have adored Jack, and would have been delighted to have him as a son-in-law.
Jack came to stand beside her. He put his arm around her and softly kissed her cheek.
"We need to go soon, honey, don't want you to get too chilled. Won't be good for you or the baby if you get sick."
She could see his love and concern for her in his beautiful brown eyes.
She looked at her Mother's grave once more as she spoke out loud.
"I'm really happy, Mom. All my wishes came true. I do get to go to the stars, I married the man of my dreams, and I'm going to be a mom. I know how much you would have loved being a grandmother."
Tears pooled in her eyes as Jack held her tighter.
"I love you and I miss you. Happy birthday, Mom."
They turned to go. She looked back over her shoulder once more at the headstones of the two people who were responsible for bringing her into the world.
And the gentle rain continued to fall.
THE END