Dear eema,

This Mother's Day will mark my last first without you. I survived the holidays, our joint birthday, Passover and next up, Mother's Day. 

Adjusting to a world without you in it has been strange, new, challenging. I keep thinking, this is how it'll be from here on out. I remember how often I would hear you sigh, Oh eemilah. Quietly speaking to your own mother who died when I was just a baby. I never got to know her but I knew pieces of her through you. Through your love and through your stories I was able to get a peek into the woman who raised you. And from now on, whenever I meet someone new, they won't know you. They won't know us. But maybe they will get a glimpse of you through me. 

I wrote this piece for the Huffington Post, in honor of you. 

Happy Mother's Day, eemilah. 
Ani ohevet otach.
xo,
annie