Losing a parent at any age is incredibly difficult, but it is even more so when the children are young. You rely on your parents for comfort, strength, love, and advice, and to have that ripped away is almost unbearable.
Unfortunately, 18-year-old Hannah Summers has experienced this firsthand. Her mom, Margaret “Peggy” Summers, passed away on Tuesday after a difficult battle with kidney cancer.
The family grieved together, heartbroken over the loss of an incredible woman gone too soon.
As they mourned, though, they came across some letters Peggy had written.
She had undergone surgery in June and knew at the time it was risky. She wanted to give her four children something to hold onto, so she had written them each a special letter.
Peggy survived that surgery, but after her passing earlier this week those words she had written a few months before brought her family some peace and comfort in the midst of their heartache.
“It was really hard to read, but at the same time it brought me a lot of comfort because it helped me realize she’s always gonna be here with me,” Hannah said. “I think she wanted to write it to make sure we all knew that she’s with us and to give us some closure.”
While Hannah at first wanted to keep the special letter to herself, she eventually decided to share it on Twitter as a tribute to her mother.
“The more I read it, the more I felt like I had to,” she said. “It has a lot of lessons people can learn from, and it really showed who my mom was.”
Hannah,
If you are reading this, then the surgery did not go well. I’m sorry, I tried my best to beat this terrible disease but I guess God had other things for me to do. Please don’t be mad, bad things happen in life and we have to learn to deal with it no matter how much it hurts. I want you to be happy and use the gifts God has given you.
You will be a wonderful nurse just as you are a wonderful person. Study hard in school, don’t worry about a job. If you want to work in the summer fine but you need to really concentrate on school. Be patient with Dad, this is going to be hard on him and he will need time. You both need to lean on each other and talk a lot which is not one of our strong points, but try and don’t give up. Remember you have a lot of people who love you so talk to them often.
Use your common sense about things like not going anywhere by yourself and having an emergency kit in your car in the winter. If you can carpool to school do it, stay away from parties because they are usually bad, not all boys are bad but most will tell you anything to try to get you to do things, try to hang out with people who have the same beliefs as you because they will make you stronger.
Remember that I am still with you and still just as proud of you as I always have been. Keep God in your life and never be ashamed to let others know you love God. If you have kids someday, make sure they know how much I love them and wanted to be there to see them.
You are going to do great in life and I will be smiling with you through all the important moments in your life. I am thankful God gave us this past year to get closer and spend a lot of quality time together. Hang onto those good memories and tell everyone you love them as often as you can. Enjoy life and live each day as if it’s your last because none of us know if today will be the last. And most of all remember that I Love You more than you will ever know!
Mom
“I can’t imagine how hard that must have been for her to write, but it shows what kind of person she was,” Hannah said. “She wasn’t thinking about herself when she wrote them, she was thinking about us.”
Hannah said the selflessness displayed in the letter was a reflection of how her mom lived her life. Peggy was a special education teacher’s aide at New Haven High School in Indiana. She went above and beyond to care for her students and show them love.
“She was so compassionate towards others,” Hannah said. “She would give rides to students who didn’t have cars, and donate furniture and books to students who didn’t have a very good home life.
Hannah said she hopes that in sharing her letter others will appreciate their loved ones and show them how much they care while they still can.
“[B]efore my mom passed she wrote us all letters,” she wrote when she shared her letter on Twitter. “[T]his is mine. please hug your parents a little closer and never take them for granted because you never know when you could lose them. I love you momma.”
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