Yesterday I heard the news that my friend's mom passed away.
I've known this friend since grade 7, and by extension I knew her mom. She was one of the moms who knew our names and was interested in what instrument we played and how we were doing at school. She was the mom who would see us 5 years after highschool graduation and remember our names and ask how we were.
I guess it was just something I took for granted. I still sort of expect all of my friends' parents to be alive and well. We are still (fairly) young. Many of my friends aren't yet married and don't have kids. In my mind that qualifies us as young. We aren't 30 yet.
So, it hit me fairly hard when I found out that this particular mother passed away. Even sadder was that on Mother's Day she found out she only had a few days to live so she went home and spent those few days with her family.
We've been through the passing of grandparents. I've held my friends' hands at the funerals and certainly cried on their shoulders when my grandfather passed away. But that is different. I guess when someone has lived a full life and they are older it's a little easier and a little more okay. But this isn't.
It's not fair that her mom got breast cancer and died.
And, it is sure making me appreciate my mom a little more.