I was cleaning out the bottom drawer of her old dresser—one I hadn’t been able to open since the funeral. It still smelled like her lotion, like lavender and something warm I couldn’t name.
I wasn’t even sure what I was looking for. Maybe a photo, a scarf. Maybe just a reason to cry without feeling like I was falling apart again.
And then I found it.
A folded piece of stationery tucked behind a stack of receipts and birthday cards from years ago. The handwriting on the envelope was unmistakable—loopy and light. For my baby, it said. That was her. She always called me that, even when I turned thirty.
I sat on the floor, knees to my chest, and read it once. Then twice. Then a third time, out loud, just to hear her voice in my head.
She’d written it like she knew. Like somehow, she knew she wouldn’t be here much longer. Every line felt like she was sitting next to me, brushing my hair behind my ear the way she used to when I was little and couldn’t sleep.
“My beautiful baby,
I don’t know why I had to leave you so soon.
I wish there was a reason,
an explanation that could ease your pain.
But there isn’t.
It was simply my time…”
I’ll be honest—I cried so hard my chest hurt. It felt like someone had scooped my heart out with a dull spoon. But also… there was something comforting about it. The way she talked to me in the letter, it didn’t sound like goodbye. More like I’m still with you. Just not the way you’re used to.
I didn’t believe her at first.
But then something happened the next morning. Something I still can’t explain.
I was rushing to get to work—running late as usual—when I knocked over the small mirror in the hallway. It should’ve cracked. It’s cheap glass and hardwood floors. But it didn’t.
Instead, it landed face up. And as I bent down to grab it, I paused.
Because for the first time since Mom passed, I didn’t see someone broken in the reflection. My face looked… calm. Not happy, not exactly. But grounded. Like maybe I was gonna be okay. It felt like she was telling me, See? I’m right here.
Still, grief isn’t something you just walk away from. It doesn’t pack up its bags after a nice letter and leave you in peace. But something shifted that day.
I started carrying the letter with me. I folded it neatly into my wallet, next to an old photo of Mom and me at the beach. I stopped avoiding the things that reminded me of her. I started cooking her recipes again—her lemon garlic chicken that always made the house smell like love.
Then one night, something weird happened. I was at the grocery store, and a woman tapped me on the shoulder while I was reaching for canned tomatoes.
“You look just like your mother,” she said, smiling.
I blinked. “Did you know her?”
She nodded. “Marisol, right? She used to volunteer at the shelter with me. Talked about you non-stop.”
I hadn’t heard that name in years. The shelter. She hadn’t been able to go much near the end, but she always talked about wanting to help women get back on their feet.
The woman—her name was Sheila—told me there was an opening at the shelter for someone to lead a kids’ art group on weekends. “Your mom always said you were great with kids,” she said.
I almost brushed it off. I had work, responsibilities, barely enough energy to feed myself most nights.
But I don’t know… that letter kept echoing in my head.
“You are my legacy.
You are the very best part of me.”
So I showed up that Saturday. And the next. And the one after that.
The kids were messy and loud and spilled juice on everything. But they painted with their whole hearts, and they asked me questions like, “Do you believe in angels?” and “Can sadness make your hair fall out?”
And one little girl—her name was Kiri—told me she didn’t remember what her mom looked like anymore.
I pulled out the letter. I read it to her.
She didn’t say anything for a while. But when her aunt came to pick her up, Kiri hugged me and said, “I think my mom sees me too.”
That’s when I knew.
Mom didn’t write that letter just for me. She wrote it for anyone who needed to feel seen, even when the person who loved them most couldn’t physically be there.
It’s been a year now.
I still miss her every single day. But I’m not stuck anymore. I’m building something—with the same love she built into me. And sometimes, when I look in the mirror, I see her smiling through my own tired eyes.
She was right.
“Just look into the mirror.
Look deep into your own eyes,
And you’ll see me there.”
To anyone grieving right now: you’re not alone. They’re not gone. Not really.
And if this story touched you even just a little, please share it. You never know who needs to feel that kind of love today.
Like & share if you believe love never truly leaves us.
