Josephine Riley

"My babies, look at them now!"...My favorite quote from Josephine in 2010. Her children were about 4 years older then my own when she uttered that quote while squeezing their faces with motherly pride. That pride was so well deserved. That one sentence and quick gesture resonates with me still as I think of the meaning behind an otherwise ordinary moment in the grand scheme of raising children. She had just finished telling me about her experience after she received "the phone call". Jo and I had identical reactions. We threw the phone and fell down in a heap of inconsolable despair. We could not fathom a world where our children would be too young to remember us. It had been four and a half years after thinking she'd already run out of time. These years might seem short if you are not in the middle of raising young children, but they are the difference between being a mother and being a distant memory. It seems that time wanted to keep her until today, her birthday. As heartbroken as I am, I'm so grateful that she was able to squeeze many times over those faces that she loved so much.