We celebrated our mothers yesterday, and I have been thinking a lot about mine lately. My mom, Wanda died on May 11, 2023. That was 1 year and 2 days ago, and people have asked me if her one-year death day and Mother’s Day this year were hard for me. Definitely not.

I think of my mom and what I imagine her life is like now with absolute happiness. In fact, a smile comes to my face every time I think of it. My mom gave this world 90 wonderful years. I got to watch and learn from her for 59 years, and each of those years are a treasure to me. She passed away just a few days before Mother’s Day last year.

Three days after she died (according to our calendar, anyway) my mom got to spend Mother’s Day with her own mom for the first time since she was 13 years old. Yesterday was her second time. I can imagine who else was celebrating with Wanda and her mom, Katie: my Grandpa and aunts, all the Sadler and Menlove and Butler relatives I used to see at summertime reunions, Mommy and Poppy McGeein, and my brothers Dave and Clay, a few of my mom’s grandchildren, maybe even my Dad, Ted. And so many, many more. What a reunion! How can I be sad about that?

There’s much we don’t know about how things are after we die, but we know enough to be sure that we get to see and spend time with the people we love. The “same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there, only it will be coupled with eternal glory, which glory we do not now enjoy (Doctrine and Covenants 130:2).” What an amazing thing to look forward to.

There’s so much more to life than the short one we can record here. What a reason to smile.