Mother’s day weekend |

As I sit here and reflect on the weekend, I can’t help but be grateful for so many things.

#TeamJudy hit the pavement for the 2nd annual Jogging for Judy event at Miles for Moffitt. Although some people couldn’t be here with us this year, it was another 3.1 miles of remembering and honoring the spirit of my mother.

This was my 2nd mother’s day without my mom, however I felt her all weekend. I know she was with us at the race. Every time I talk about our team, or wear something with Team Judy on it, I feel the energy of everything our team encompasses.

The first mother’s day without my mother was much harder than the second. As they say, time heals all wounds. When I think about the past year and my journey through the grieving process, my tears have changed from tears of anger and sadness to tears of thanks and fond memories. I miss my mom every second of every day, but honestly I never thought I’d get to this point. You feel so lost when a parent passes away. You feel like everyday is going to be hard. Like everyday you’re going to cry and replay their moment of death. But as time passes, and you learn to heal and rely on the help and support of those who care about you, it does get better.You learn to remember the good times, and appreciate the time you spent together in the physical world. Some days it’s still hard to believe my mom is no longer here, however the life that I have built without her is something that I know would make her happy and proud.

I thought about my mom all day as we enjoyed our Sunday. Brian’s mom wanted to spend mother’s day fishing, so after breakfast, we picked her up and drove down to beautiful Ballast Point Park to spend a few hours fishing off the pier. My mother used to LOVE fishing.

This picture was taken the summer of 2010 in Jupiter, FL. We decided to take a spontaneous camping trip to Jonathan Dickinson State Park. SO spontaneous that we couldn’t even get a dog sitter, so we brought the pups along with us!

My mom was never a fan of the east coast, as she grew up on the Gulf side of Florida, but she was ALWAYS up for an adventure. Although it was summertime, we weren’t able to swim due to it being season for these little guys:

Yup. Apparently during the time we went it was the peak season for Portuguese Man Of Wars. Did you know that these sea creatures are actually a combination of four animals working together and that they can still sting you even when they’ve washed up on shore? Very cool. Sorry. #teachermoment

Needless to say, the Atlantic was empty leaving the beaches calm and roomy. We were literally able to fish everyday and had the whole beach to ourselves. Claire and Chloe loved having free roam of the shoreline!

We were there for 4 days and spent each and every day fishing. My mom never grew tired of being out on the water and would typically be the first one to catch anything! Growing up with a fishing obsessed father (my grandfather, Abuelo), she knew the Gulf of Mexico inside and out. And it didn’t stop at fishing. She was an avid SCUBA diver, loved to play out on her jet skis and could even water ski like a pro! I certainly did not inherit her love of all things aquatic. Remember my deathly fear of deep open water? However the one thing we shared was a love of fishing.

As we fished on Mother’s Day yesterday, I thought about my mom a lot. I know she would have joined us (and probably caught the first fish!) out there on the pier. Although we didn’t catch anything, I enjoyed the time spent with Brian and his Mom. It brought fond memories of so many fishing trips with my own mom.