Mom Died

Mom died.

Simple words, far too simple for a lady as complicated as she was. As full of life, as full of mystery, as full of deep and challenging thoughts, as full of secrets.

She gave us all fair warning. She knew life is a fragile, fleeting thing. Even when I was little, we thought more than once that we were going to lose her. The diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, lung ailments, none of it slowed her down, or dampened her enthusiasm for satisfying her eclectic curiosity.

She went places women didn’t go back in the day. More recently, she went places old, sick women didn’t go. She went not to prove anything, but because they were places that were calling to her - Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico. She was astute enough to know when something is truly calling to you. She was brave (foolish?) enough to answer those calls.

She believed in things that often struck people as odd or eccentric. She believed them because she listened to her heart, and her soul, and not just her head. She listened to what they were telling her, and ignored what the rest of the world was saying. It was all just so much noise to her.

She loved with a love that was deep, and full. She heard her soul overflow like a river, and knew he was the one, and sure enough he was. They knew they would be together forever, and so they were. And so they are still.

She lived until she was no longer able to explore the mysteries of this world, and so it came time to explore the mysteries of the next. She didn’t let go, she just kept going on the path that she saw stretching out ahead of her, and stretching back behind.

And now she is out there somewhere, finding new adventures, finding new mysteries to explore, her curiosity free to go places no earthly body could.

God speed, Flora Emma Correa, God speed.