A New Day

I used to talk on the phone with my mom every day over coffee. Mornings just didn't feel right without her

- By LEAH VIDAL, New Braunfels, Texas

CHECKING IN After Leah (holding her daughter, Olivia) became a mother herself, she talked to her mom, Gloria, even more.

Even after three months, there were days when it took all I had to get out of bed in the morning. This was one of those days. I heard my husband and our two teenagers leave for work and school. It was just me, alone in the house. Alone with my grief. I stared at the bedroom ceiling and gave myself a pep talk. “You can do this. One step at a time. Get up. Take a shower. Get dressed. Face the day.”

I showered, dressed, then dragged myself to the kitchen and made coffee. I wasn’t an all-day-long coffee drinker, but I had to have my morning cup. Usually I’d take that first rich, delicious sip, sit back and think, Aah, all’s right with the world.

Not anymore. Not since my mom died unexpectedly in September. She’d been healthy and active, the caregiver for my older brother, who had special needs. They lived in Florida and had been planning to move to our house in Texas, where there was plenty of room and I could help with caregiving. Then my brother died in his sleep. Two weeks later, Mom was gone too. Cardiac arrest.

Mom and I used to start our days talking on the phone over coffee. We hadn’t lived in the same state since my college days, but we spoke often. Our morning ritual really began in earnest after I'd become a mom myself, maybe because I needed her advice more.

We covered so much in our coffee chats. Big things and everyday things. What my daughter and son were up to. What Mom had going on that day. Family news. Books we were reading. Music. Recipes. Current events.