She got the call every daughter dreads. The one that ends in a rush to get to an ailing parent. The one that signifies borrowed time and immediate prayers. She drops everything to get home to her hospitalized mother.
As she tries to leave, her flight is canceled. She books another, it gets canceled too. She does this again and again until she realizes she has no time left to wait for planes that seem to be grounded. She needs to get there and she needs to do it now.
She grabs her bags and races to rent a car. The drive will take an entire day. It will spread across multiple states. She doesn’t care. Her only focus is getting to her mother. She does what every devoted daughter would do—anything and everything it takes to be there with her.
Love is her guide and determination is her fuel. She will let nothing stop her from saying goodbye on her terms and whispering “I love you’s” while holding a hand, not a telephone. She doesn’t let fear or exhaustion detour her path. She knows it won’t be easy, but she’d do anything for her mom, and if the roles were reversed, her mama would be doing the same for her.
Love like this knows no bounds.
This is a daughter’s love.
This is a daughter’s devotion.
This is what happens when the world blesses you with a mother like her.
Mileage doesn’t matter when it means getting to someone you love— someone that needs you. Especially when that someone is your mother.
Hours spent in a car is better than holding a lifetime of regret. Doctors told her to get to her mother’s side as fast as possible and she listened. This is a daughter’s love.
Cancer. Hospice. Nearing the end. We’ve done all we can. —-words and phrases she’ll never forget.
Highways. Interstates. Traffic. Gas stops. Hours and hours of driving. —things her mother will never forget.
Eventually she makes it. She gets there. She walks into a hospital room where her mother is lying in bed so elated to see her, the feeling is mutual. It’s incredible how a person can feel like home, they both feel it.
They both know she did everything in her power for this woman, her mother– proof of a daughter’s love. The proof of how well a mother has loved her daughter. The proof of life’s greatest gift: relationships and connections and love– endless love.
The headline read, “Woman drives to see sick mom after canceled flight”, and what it didn’t say is the power of a daughter’s love. It mentioned canceled flights and car rentals and drive times, but it failed to mention the most important thing.
When you’re blessed with a mother whose love knows no limits, yours doesn’t either.
When you’re blessed with a mother who did and would always do anything for you, you do the same.
Love like this knows no bounds.
This is a daughter’s love.
This is a daughter’s devotion.
This is what happens when the world blesses you with a mother like her.
And I’m lucky, because I know that kind of love too– the kind that was created by a mother that loved me so selflessly, so compassionately, and so easily, that I loved her the same way.
And I still do, even in the midst of her absence– that is a daughter’s love.
