Celebration of Life

You’ll have to excuse me for not coming up with a better way to start this. My mom always helped me write all of the papers and speeches I needed to for school, including my college application essay. Oops.

About 4 years ago, I randomly started calling my mom, Coco. She loved it. Most of my friends began to call her that also! It was her stripper name. Nah, just kidding, she wasn’t a stripper. She had always wanted a nickname though, so she said it was absolutely perfect.

I am grateful for the memories I have of Coco.

You see those beautiful ruby red slippers? My mom wore those when she retired from the Hospital. I was in fourth grade. On the day of her retirement, I had forgotten my violin at home and needed it for my lesson at school. I remember she was a little annoyed at me but brought the violin to school anyway, red shoes and all.

Another memory I have is from the summer of 2011. I was joking around with my mom and Lindsay before I had to leave for work. I’m not really sure how it ended up like it did, but before I knew it as I was in my car pulling out for work, Lindsay and my mom were standing in the front yard mooning me. I was so embarrassed but now I just laugh because the only reason she did it was to prove me wrong when I said she wouldn’t actually do it. I apologize to any of my neighbors who may have seen this happen.

Although I only had 23 years and 10 months with my momma, I was able to learn so much from her. That was quite astonishing, really, because she told us many times that we had selective hearing and so it’s a wonder we ever learned anything. But I was listening…

A few weeks ago as we were in the hospital she started giving me advice on the little things of life…

For example:

- Always match your scarves with your coats…and gloves if possible. Oh, and purses too…but if you can’t match that, black is okay.

- Always match your ribbon to your wrapping paper. And it is not necessary to put bows on Christmas presents.

-always make your kids Halloween costumes, at least for the first 5 years.

-Remember to Stay Active.

Then my mom handed out advice for some of the bigger things in life.

- Do not get married until you are sure that it is going to be forever, even if you have to wait 10 years.

-And don’t have a baby unless you want to. No one else can make that decision for you unless it is right for you.

-Go big or go home. This was a phrase commonly used by Coco in the Schwartz household. I am lucky that I have been able to go big or go home with her many times in my life.

And then there were the life lessons that she prayed I would learn and I’m here to say that I did because I was able to watch an incredible woman live them out.

She taught me to always take the high road. I know I am not the only person who has heard my momma say that before. I am the first one to say that I do not always take the high road but more times than not, as I am getting older, I hear her voice in my head reminding me of this simple phrase.

Another thing I learned from my mom is to always describe a person by the content of their personality and character instead of their physical appearance. As we were growing up and we were describing different people to my mom she would make us start over if we named anything related to physical appearance in the description. She did this because she felt that it was important to look at a person from the inside out. What a beautiful way to look at people.

My mom also taught me to stand up for what is right even if I am standing alone. That, my friends, is not an easy thing to do. She led by example in this one and it doesn’t matter how many people are going to dislike you, you must always do what you know in your heart to be right in any circumstance.

I am so incredibly blessed to have been given the opportunity to learn from such an amazing woman. I feel as though my time with her was too short. My heart is heavy and broken. But if tears give testimony, then some days I feel as though I have enough to fill every ocean, lake and swimming pool on Earth. I rejoice to know that she is without pain and dancing for Jesus. I will continue to celebrate her life and all that she has taught me. My momma taught me how to fight and fight hard. My mom taught me about never giving up. She taught me how to love and be loved. She taught me about God and His unconditional love. My momma taught us how to live and then how to die, with honor and dignity and faith in the knowledge that her life will continue for eternity in Heaven with our Savior. She didn’t lose her fight to cancer. When she greeted her Savior, she was cured of that cancer that took her from us.

To be completely honest, I’m scared to do this life without her. Some days it will take everything I have just to get out of bed and make it through the day. But I’ll be brave because my momma showed me how. And I will do everything in my power to make her proud.

Mommy, I will miss you always and I will love you forever. Thank you for being the best mommy that you could be. I will carry you with me until I see you again.