One of the earliest memories I have of my Mom is when she put the seeds back in the chili peppers.
Up until that time, I don’t recall ever seeing a chili with seeds. Although, I probably didn’t eat many chilies at the time anyway.
Thinking about it now, she was probably de-seeding the chilies. But being maybe 2 or 3 at the time, it seemed to me, as I sat at the kitchen counter watching her at our home in San Jose, that she was taking these little chili seeds from the clear plastic bag, and putting them back in the red chili peppers.
From that time forth, every chili I encountered after has had seeds, and in some ways that has seemed magic. Later I would hear the term “mother nature” and I would wonder just a little bit, if that was a reference to my Mom, or that maybe all,others could influence nature somehow.! In any case, every time I look at a cut chili, it somehow, even if just in the back of my mind, reminds me of her. It’s strange sometimes how the seemingly insignificant, sometimes mundane things, remind you of the people you love.
I have always admired my Mom’s charisma, and how easily my Mom was able to talk to people, even if they were strangers she’d never met before. It seemed that within minutes, she would have made yet another fast friend. She just had a way with people.! Growing up, I thought it was really cool to have a such popular Mom that everybody was friends with. It didn’t matter if it was church or work, or school. Everybody knew Grace, and they were her friend. It was a similar quality of Marnae’s that drew me to her in the first place, and it is a trait that I have seen in Nevaeh. Like grandmother, like grand daughter.
An example: ! There were a couple times in Singapore, I attended some medical/cancer related seminars with her at the Singapore General Hospital. I joked with her then, something along the lines of, “hey don’t spend too much time with all your friends in the audience afterwards” not expecting her to actually know anybody there, but boy I WAS WRONG! Turned out, when the lights came up, that she knew half the room!
Maybe she should have gone into politics?
That is a skill I try hard to emulate, unsuccessfully most of the time, and it’s another instance of when I think of her. How or what would Mom do or say?
I wish she was still with us. I really miss talking to her. I miss being able to call her up on the phone. That is so easy to take for granted. I start to get emotional when I think about it too much. So i actually try to push those thoughts aside.
Just the other day I was thinking how much I missed hearing my Mom and Grandma converse in Hokkien, which is ironic to me because I found it highly annoying as a kid.
For a long time after my Dad passed away, my Mom was the rock and the foundation in my life. It was always comforting to know that no matter what, at least Mom was there. Now that she is gone, it really seems so strange. There is a feeling of emptiness, that something is missing.
The first time I returned to San Francisco after she had passed away, The living room where she had spent her last days seemed unusually and strangely empty. It was very overwhelming. She was not a big person physically, but she had a big presence.
In my heart, I know that my Mom is not completely gone. I know that she continues on beyond what we can comprehend here now in mortality. I would like to share the following which has been of much comfort to me
The following quote by Spencer W. Kimball has been of much help to me:
In death do we grieve for the one who passes on, or is it self-pity?! To doubt the wisdom and justice of the passing of a loved one is to place a limitation on the term of life. It is to say it is more important to continue to live here than to go into other fields. Do we grieve when our son is graduated from the local high school and is sent away from home to a university of higher learning? Do we grieve inconsolably when when our son is called away from our daily embrace to preach the gospel? To continue to grieve without faith and understanding and trust when a son goes into another world, is to question the long-range program of God, life eternal with all it’s opportunities and blessings.
Gordon B. Hinckley put it another way when he said, “Death, though bitter to observe, is not the end, but is, rather, only another graduation from which we go on to a better life.”
If it is one thing I have learned from my mother, it is to have faith and to put my trust in God. And so, I know that I will see her again one day.
A scripture that means a lot to me. In the words of Christ: “I am the law and the light. Look unto me, and endure to the end, and ye shall live; for unto him that endureth to the end will I give eternal life.”! 3 Nephi 15:9
If it is somebody who has endured, it would be my Mom.
To quote David O. McKay, ” the message of the resurrection is the most comforting, the most glorious ever given to man; for when death takes a loved one, we can look into the open grave and say, he is not here; he is alive.”
I am very thankful for having had a mother like mine. I am glad to have shared the last few moments with her. The hardest part of that, besides seeing her suffering; was not being able to converse with her. I think we were all very surprised by her rapid decline, and even more surprised at losing the gift of communication/conversation with her. Urge go talk to your Dad / Mom.
If it is one thing I am glad about, it is that she is no longer in pain, that she is no longer suffering. She developed a cough, looked painful, gasping for air.
In that context, I’d like to conclude with a quote from Brigham Young:! “We shall turn round and look upon it (the valley of death) and think, when we have crossed it, why this is the greatest advantage of my whole existence, for I have passed from a state of sorrow, grief, mourning, woe, misery, pain, anguish,and disappointment into a state of existence where I can enjoy life to the fullest extent as far as can de done without a body. My spirit is set free, I thirst no more, I want to sleep no more, I hunger no more, I tire no more, I run, I walk, I labor, I go, I come, I do this, I do that, whatever is required of me, nothing like pain or weariness, I am full of life, full of vigor, and I enjoy the presence of my Heavenly Father”
I know that my Mom is ok. I know she is in a better place.
I’d like to say thank you to everyone, who, together with our family, has shared our grief and have offered a helping hand, or kind words to help us get through this moment.
Marcus
One of the earliest memories I have of my Mom is when she put the seeds back in the chili peppers.
Up until that time, I don’t recall ever seeing a chili with seeds. Although, I probably didn’t eat many chilies at the time anyway.
Thinking about it now, she was probably de-seeding the chilies. But being maybe 2 or 3 at the time, it seemed to me, as I sat at the kitchen counter watching her at our home in San Jose, that she was taking these little chili seeds from the clear plastic bag, and putting them back in the red chili peppers.
From that time forth, every chili I encountered after has had seeds, and in some ways that has seemed magic. Later I would hear the term “mother nature” and I would wonder just a little bit, if that was a reference to my Mom, or that maybe all,others could influence nature somehow.! In any case, every time I look at a cut chili, it somehow, even if just in the back of my mind, reminds me of her. It’s strange sometimes how the seemingly insignificant, sometimes mundane things, remind you of the people you love.
I have always admired my Mom’s charisma, and how easily my Mom was able to talk to people, even if they were strangers she’d never met before. It seemed that within minutes, she would have made yet another fast friend. She just had a way with people.! Growing up, I thought it was really cool to have a such popular Mom that everybody was friends with. It didn’t matter if it was church or work, or school. Everybody knew Grace, and they were her friend. It was a similar quality of Marnae’s that drew me to her in the first place, and it is a trait that I have seen in Nevaeh. Like grandmother, like grand daughter.
An example: ! There were a couple times in Singapore, I attended some medical/cancer related seminars with her at the Singapore General Hospital. I joked with her then, something along the lines of, “hey don’t spend too much time with all your friends in the audience afterwards” not expecting her to actually know anybody there, but boy I WAS WRONG! Turned out, when the lights came up, that she knew half the room!
Maybe she should have gone into politics?
That is a skill I try hard to emulate, unsuccessfully most of the time, and it’s another instance of when I think of her. How or what would Mom do or say?
I wish she was still with us. I really miss talking to her. I miss being able to call her up on the phone. That is so easy to take for granted. I start to get emotional when I think about it too much. So i actually try to push those thoughts aside.
Just the other day I was thinking how much I missed hearing my Mom and Grandma converse in Hokkien, which is ironic to me because I found it highly annoying as a kid.
For a long time after my Dad passed away, my Mom was the rock and the foundation in my life. It was always comforting to know that no matter what, at least Mom was there. Now that she is gone, it really seems so strange. There is a feeling of emptiness, that something is missing.
The first time I returned to San Francisco after she had passed away, The living room where she had spent her last days seemed unusually and strangely empty. It was very overwhelming. She was not a big person physically, but she had a big presence.
In my heart, I know that my Mom is not completely gone. I know that she continues on beyond what we can comprehend here now in mortality. I would like to share the following which has been of much comfort to me
The following quote by Spencer W. Kimball has been of much help to me:
In death do we grieve for the one who passes on, or is it self-pity?! To doubt the wisdom and justice of the passing of a loved one is to place a limitation on the term of life. It is to say it is more important to continue to live here than to go into other fields. Do we grieve when our son is graduated from the local high school and is sent away from home to a university of higher learning? Do we grieve inconsolably when when our son is called away from our daily embrace to preach the gospel? To continue to grieve without faith and understanding and trust when a son goes into another world, is to question the long-range program of God, life eternal with all it’s opportunities and blessings.
Gordon B. Hinckley put it another way when he said, “Death, though bitter to observe, is not the end, but is, rather, only another graduation from which we go on to a better life.”
If it is one thing I have learned from my mother, it is to have faith and to put my trust in God. And so, I know that I will see her again one day.
A scripture that means a lot to me. In the words of Christ: “I am the law and the light. Look unto me, and endure to the end, and ye shall live; for unto him that endureth to the end will I give eternal life.”! 3 Nephi 15:9
If it is somebody who has endured, it would be my Mom.
To quote David O. McKay, ” the message of the resurrection is the most comforting, the most glorious ever given to man; for when death takes a loved one, we can look into the open grave and say, he is not here; he is alive.”
I am very thankful for having had a mother like mine. I am glad to have shared the last few moments with her. The hardest part of that, besides seeing her suffering; was not being able to converse with her. I think we were all very surprised by her rapid decline, and even more surprised at losing the gift of communication/conversation with her. Urge go talk to your Dad / Mom.
If it is one thing I am glad about, it is that she is no longer in pain, that she is no longer suffering. She developed a cough, looked painful, gasping for air.
In that context, I’d like to conclude with a quote from Brigham Young:! “We shall turn round and look upon it (the valley of death) and think, when we have crossed it, why this is the greatest advantage of my whole existence, for I have passed from a state of sorrow, grief, mourning, woe, misery, pain, anguish,and disappointment into a state of existence where I can enjoy life to the fullest extent as far as can de done without a body. My spirit is set free, I thirst no more, I want to sleep no more, I hunger no more, I tire no more, I run, I walk, I labor, I go, I come, I do this, I do that, whatever is required of me, nothing like pain or weariness, I am full of life, full of vigor, and I enjoy the presence of my Heavenly Father”
I know that my Mom is ok. I know she is in a better place.
I’d like to say thank you to everyone, who, together with our family, has shared our grief and have offered a helping hand, or kind words to help us get through this moment.