Misfire, I'm so sorry to hear about your Mom. I'm glad you feel at peace. I'm sure that you will miss her in significant ways as the first year progresses (first Mother's Day, birthday, Christmas, etc), but hopefully that peace will keep you grounded and help you to weather all those "firsts".

I still miss my parents, but have come to peace with the hole in my life. Nobody and nothing (including time) will ever completely eradicate that hole and that aching, but it is what it is, and I'm learning to get on with life. But I'm especially mindful of the emptiness right now, as I'm over my head in planning our family reunion this summer. We've gathered together every year for over 20 years now. But we've all noticed that the joyful spirit of these reunions has been severely diminished, if not completely eradicated, since my Mom died. We're only doing it for the kids now.

But hopefully, we'll continue to find our way around that loss and rebuild that joy over time. Maybe when the kids start bringing THEIR kids and WE become the grandparents, we'll find a different spirit infusing the reunions again.