Two thousand two hundred & fifty-four.

Dear Omma, 

Yesterday I ran the Purple Stride 5K, a PANCAN fundraiser, on a beautifully crisp, Brooklyn spring day. The distance (nor my time) weren't what was impressive or noteworthy about this race though. 

I'd decided to run and fundraise for this 5K last weekend, when I was back in NC visiting you in the hospital. You'd been discharged only a few days post-whipple when complications from your recovery (your GI system basically sprung many leaks!) landed you back in the ICU. Even though your body has been running a daily marathon as you try to heal, your spirits have been unwavering throughout. 

I do worry sometimes...like when you beep your green medicine button 5 times in 15 minutes ("I just like the way it makes me feel," you told me) or when you ask for your 'baby doll,' which is what the nurses told you to call your medicine button. But mostly, the nurses all tell me how they LOVE you because you're always smiling and in good spirits. 

Friends and family raised $2,254 in your support, Mom! Their generosity and support has been both overwhelming and comforting...that's almost 15 times the goal I set. I wish that each of those dollars could be converted into another day with you. But that's not how God, the Negotiator who wins them all, works necessarily. 

The last couple of months have been new and scary for us all. None of us knows how much time we have to spend doing the things and saying the things we've always wanted to. But we have now...and just like you and Dad exchanged letters more than 40 years ago, getting to know each other and falling in love, these will be my letters to you. So that you know what you mean to me as a mother, and that you will hopefully know the daughter and woman you raised. 

I love you, Omma. 

NB: In total, $2,854 was raised in honor of my mom, who was speechless when I told her this. 

You kept telling me how pretty I look in this photo (almost in disbelief)...thanks Omma.