I lost my mother yesterday morning. I was at the laundromat getting ready to dry clothes and my husband had gone to work when my father called and gave me the news. I didn’t want to believe it. I couldn’t believe it. My mom was GONE. She’d lost her battle with cancer.

Now, I had lost a brother back in 2013 and I grieved that loss, but it didn’t feel anything like the loss of my mother. This loss feels... different. More painful. More heartwrenching. It’s hard to put into words.

For those of you who have lost a parent, how did you react? How did you get through it?