Tag: rory

Words that Stay with Me

stephaniemoorewrites

I’ve had so many thoughts and feelings swirling around me this week with no energy to write them down.

My heart is so full when I think about Rory.

I love her so much.

I miss her equally.

I’ve been thinking about the notes she used to leave me.

On thank you cards.

On index cards.

In notebooks.

On hotel notepads.

It was always the same, in her perfectly messy handwriting.

Rory

💜

Mom

Rory doing what she did best, spreading love.

She wrote them so frequently that I threw them away for a long time.

A few months before she died, I got this feeling.

Start saving those notes.

How grateful I am for that inspiration!

They are some on my most precious possessions.

As my life is hard. As I struggle seeing positive. When the future feels bleak.

I have those words.

I know someone is always in my corner.

Rory

💜

Mom

My sweet angel baby girl.

She’ll Never be a Teen

stephaniemoorewrites

I love watching my boys grow.

Being a teenager isn’t easy.

They’re trying to figure out who they are.

Who they want to be.

They’re forming their ideologies and questioning what they’ve been told.

They’re learning about friendships.

They’re having their first real crushes.

It’s an honor to stand beside my boys as they find themselves.

But as the boys outgrow me, the reality is hitting me.

Rory will forever be eight in my mind.

She won’t grow past that.

I can speculate.

I can wish.

But it doesn’t change the reality.

I won’t see Rory grow into a teenager.

No girl drama.

No late night talks.

No rom coms.

No talking about her first love and her first broken heart.

No getting ready for her first date.

No teenage fun.

Teenage years can be so hard to navigate.

But it would have been privilege to walk beside Rory.

Memory! When the Boys Are Away

stephaniemoorewrites

In May Lance and the boys would go on a camp out with our church.

Rory and I didn’t waste time.

We got McDonalds.

We took it home and feasted.

Then we got in our pajamas.

Manicured and pedicured it up.

Played a game or two, usually Candyland.

Then laid back and enjoyed a movie. Her go to was always Tangled.

My heart.

In pictures.

I miss those nights.

The Hyphenated Life

stephaniemoorewrites

Living with grief is a hyphenated life. There are very few times that I feel just one emotion anymore.

When I’m experiencing a moment of joy, I’m also experiencing sadness because someone is missing. Rory should be here, experiencing this with me.

When we were in Hawai’i, we were standing by a cliff’s edge. The sun was shining down on us, warming our skin. The wind blowing through our hair, knocking hats off.

The moment was beautiful.

One of my boys came over and wrapped me in a hug. “Rory never got to go here. She never felt the wind and the sun like this.”

She didn’t. She doesn’t.

A broken-hearted thought, in the middle of remarkable experience.

A hyphenated life.

Mother’s Day

stephaniemoorewrites
This picture was taken by Mrs. Williams, her first grade teacher. She believed in Rory. She took this after Rory got a 100% on her final spelling test, correctly spelling all 175 words. Thank you, Natalie!

I believe strongly that it takes a village to raise kids.

As parents we do all we can for them.

But there are times they need people outside of us.

Grandma, aunts, cousins, neighbors, moms of friends, teachers, doctors, fellow church members, etc.

This group of people have made such a huge impact on my children.

I am eternally grateful for people that love my kids.

I’m grateful for people that reach out to them, that take time to get to know them.

Rory was in a unique situation that she got to know a lot of adults in her life. She had so many classroom parents that loved her. The school secretaries had a special relationship with her. Almost all of her teachers expressed how much they loved her.

I’m so grateful for the people that took the time to love her.

To all the women out there that love my kids.

Thank you.

I love you.

I need you.

Happy Mother’s Day.