I've Been Writing This Essay My Whole Life

and today I hit publish.

The week my mother died, before I could begin to metabolize her absence, I was showered with the same six words. “She was so proud of you.”

Across cards and texts and phone calls, they flowed from those that knew her as if they were the only words in existence. I felt their sincerity. They were offered not as a platitude, but the sharing of a widely hel…