It is not an anniversary I recall fondly, however, my mother’s passing five years ago today gives me the opportunity to pay homage to a woman who has left a lasting imprint on my heart. Below is an excerpt from a book I self-published prior to her death, chronically my mother’s 80 amazing years.

It doesn’t matter how old we are, how tough we are or how self-sufficient we may have become. No matter the length of our journey on the road of life, our damage, our baggage, or our broken pieces, deep down inside we have all, secretly or not, at some point in our lives, wanted our mothers to tell us everything would be alright. Profoundly powerful, a mother’s love can convince us that even in the worst of times we will will make it though to the other side, that everything will, indeed, be alright. My mother possessed that kind of love, an infinite love that she gave freely and joyfully to her family. We were her life, her happily ever after, a reality she lived and breathed every day of her 80 years.

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An excerpt from:

On the Eve of Eighty, Celebrating the Life of Margaret Mary LeBeau Murnane

(self-published in 2010 for family and friends)