Thank you, mum, for your loving worry

 Below you can find another chapter from the book Thank you, mum.  I hope it touches your heart.

(For the Swedish version, scroll up to the next post.)

Waves, sea-foam and sand. The beach was magical for a little girl like me. We were on vacation; we had such a blast together. You were terrified that the waves would knock me over and that I, who hadn't mastered swimming, would be swept away by the currents. So, you held my hand. The whole time.

            You worried a lot. Like when I went inter-railing, back before cellphones existed, and we could only communicate by letter and a handful of phone calls. Once when I found a payphone and called home, you were really upset; both mad and worried as you hadn't heard from me in a while. I asked if you'd received my postcard. You hadn't. Turns out the postcard had fallen off the table from a stack of mail. It wasn't until many days later, after our phone call, that you found it. Keeping an organized space was never your forte.

            You and Dad were always listening to the radio, you were always notified if there had been a traffic accident anywhere. If it happened to be on a road I often travelled on, you called to make sure I was okay, that I wasn't hurt.

            Thank you for your love, a love you showed through worry. Thank you Ineke, my mother-in-law, for showing me that there is a way to care about your loved ones without worrying. "Geen nieuws is goed nieuws" (no news is good news) is your saying, Ineke. Now I can love as much as you did, Mum, without having to worry about the things I cannot change. 

**

Please share this blogpost if you think it can help someone! 

This was a chapter from the book Thank you, mum. A book for those who miss someone.

To read all chapters, type Thank you Mum in the search field on this blog

If you would like to give the book to someone you think can be soothed by it, or to yourself, you can find it on Amazon.