Mom ManagementTM
By Tracy Lyn Moland
My mom manager
These words that have been so dear to me over the last few years have taken on a new meaning. My mom passed away from cancer on April 14, and I am still trying to figure out how to deal with it. I found myself in a very challenging position; I had to be so strong at a time when that is the last thing I felt like being. My mom was only 65 and acted about 50. She had been skiing in January and was the inspiration to all of her friends.
She was the young one, the fun one and the one who inspired so many. As we sat in the hospital, watching mom slowly being taken from us by cancer, it was I who was there for her friends. “Irma was not supposed to go first. How can someone who is in amazing shape, eats well and is so positive about life be the one taken from us?” As their support was offered to my brother and me, we returned the support to her friends and our family.
Rather than a traditional funeral we held a Celebration of Life for my mom. We postponed it for about 6 weeks after her passing, so friends and family from out of town could attend. It was truly an amazing tribute to her and I close this article that has been so difficult to write, with my thoughts on the service, written the day after:
We held Mom’s Celebration of Life yesterday and it was incredible, for a day I wish we didn’t have to deal with yet. We aren’t sure of the numbers, but I would say over 300 people were there. Mom was 65 and there were people from all stages of her life: friends and family as a child and youth; university friends; my dad, with the group of friends shared when they were married (they divorced 32 years ago); teaching friends; students; my friends and my brother’s; plus all her ski and golf friends from retirement. People came from all over — it was so powerful.
We held a Celebration of Life rather than a funeral in which my brother and I hosted the event; mom’s brother and two friends spoke, and my father-in-law bestowed a blessing. I created a slide show to Lee Ann Womack’s “I Hope You Dance,” a song whose message we should all embrace, and we showed a copy of www.TheDashMovie.com, which I recommend viewing.
My mom would have loved the service. (We expected her to walk out any moment and say, “Hey I just took a trip”; she was planning one the week before she died.) But for me, as I read about the influence of mothers and I look at the influence of my mom on so many people, I realize the incredible power and responsibility we moms have, especially moms in the media. We can follow world leaders, politicians or the attention famous people get, but it is truly we, the moms, especially the ones like mine, who make the world a better place. We touch lives in so many ways, not when we are trying to influence, but rather just by being ourselves, that we make the biggest difference. I am so thankful for moms like mine who touch so many people, and for women like all of you who in your own way, truly influence and lead the world.
 Author, freelance writer, professional speaker and media expert, Tracy Lyn Moland is Canada’s Life Management expert for women. As corporate spokesperson for FisherPrice®, SC Johnson®, columnist for Canadian Living.com, cover editor and writer for Mom’s Literary Magazine, parenting expert for Club Mom®, and author of the Canadian Best Seller Mom Management, Managing Mom Before Everybody Else (tgot, 2003), Tracy Lyn Moland lives the life she speaks about. For more information visit www.TracyLynMoland.com Copyright 2006, Tracy Lyn Moland. Permission granted for reprints.
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