This Mother’s Day hits differently. It’s been six months since my mom passed away. And while life moves on, dealing with her absence hasn’t gotten any easier. So why am I carrying around this pineapple? 🤷🏻‍♂️
You see, pineapples are a sign of hospitality. You can find them all over our family home. And my mother took that significance to heart. For as long as I can remember, she insisted that we host every holiday so that she could invite anyone who didn’t have a family to celebrate.
She took great pride in decorating the tables, designing seating charts and name plates, and cooked way too much food - mostly so she guilt anyone who didn’t take seconds 🙄 And whenever times got tough for her friends, she would remind them to Be a Pineapple:
Stand tall, wear a crown, and be sweet on the inside 🍍
And that she was. But now, she’s gone. And her void is felt especially hard on a day like today. So it is incumbent upon us, those left behind, to carry her spirit along with us. And so my father had the idea for me to travel with a pineapple. And my brother molded one by hand.
And here I am, drifting somewhere across the world, carrying her spirit with me. In a small plastic pineapple. And in doing so, I am reminded of words of the immortal Tom Petty:
Some things are over
some things go on
part of me you carry
part of me is gone.
And so it goes. Your spirit will carry on in every heart you touched, every guest you hosted, and every child you inspired. And in this way, your memory, lessons, and spirit will live on forever. And you will never be forgotten.
Happy Mother’s Day ❤️