It doesn’t mean much to others, but I have a strange obsession with the number 11. I always seem to look at the clock at 11:11; my son was born in the 11th month and my daughter was born on the 11th day of the month. I guess it’s fitting for me that Mother’s Day falls on the 11th this year. This is my first year without my mom.

Carol Edwards, “Mother of Woodinville,” passed away last October. She was really my mom, Jennifer’s mom, Jeffrey’s mom and Wendy’s mom. It’s OK that everyone else claims her too. She loved so many people! Oh, except someone I dated in my teens who called her “mom.” That was a big mistake!

Anyone who met Carol Edwards knows she was crazy, eccentric, passionate, artistic, very intelligent, caring and so much more.

She battled ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease, for at least 4 years. I have no idea if it’s easier to lose your parent after knowing you will lose them within a certain timeframe or with an unexpected passing. All I know is how painful it is to lose my mother. I’m 35 years old. I expected to see her get old, not leave me at age 65. I wanted my kids to grow up with their grandma like I did. My 7-year-old son remembers Grandma Carol and brings her up often. We laugh at silly things she did or I answer questions about her death. My daughter, now 3, probably won’t remember her. I am lucky; I have pictures of my mom holding my daughter soon after she was born. It wasn’t much later my mom couldn’t drive, let alone hold a child.

I know I am not alone; many people have lost their moms, many younger than I and many older. Sometimes you still feel alone with your grief.

To the Irvin girls who recently lost their mother Sherri to a long battle with cancer, I think of you often. Your mom wrote this to me last November and I want to pass it on to you:

“Hi Julie!

"I think the hardest part about losing my mother was that when she died, I went into a “holding pattern” but the rest of the world moved on. Does that make sense? It is like “Hey World!? My mother died!? Would you please pause a little bit longer!!!!”?I can assure you that you will heal from your grieving and the “holding pattern” does not last very long. The first year is the hardest to get through, especially Mother’s Day. But as the years go by, the sweet memories remain.? Just take one step at a time and you will get through it. It’s been 20 years since my mother passed away.?I can now talk?about her without choking up and tell my kids wonderful stories about what she has done.?Nowadays, every once in a while?something will trigger a memory of my mother but I can remember it with a smile instead of tears.??

"Can I make a suggestion" My kids were born about five years after my mother passed away so they never got “to know” my mother. Right after my first child was born, my brother?sent a letter to every family member or close friend?who knew my mother and asked them to write a funny story or a good memory?of something they did with my mother.?Then my brother put?all of the letters?into a book and had the book bound.?It is a wonderful gift.?I learned some things about my mother that I?did not know and was able to see her in a different perspective than just a mother-daughter. If you are concerned that your kids will not get to know your mother, perhaps you could do something similar. The newspaper clippings from The Woodinville Weekly would be an excellent addition to your mother’s book.??

Good luck with the business transfer and may your days get easier."

"Fondly, Sherri"

This Mother’s Day, May 11th, I will be returning home from a long-overdue vacation, a trip with my step-mom to Chicago to see my sister. I will have dinner with my kids, hug them, kiss them, tell them a story about my mom and remind them how much they are loved. As much as Mother’s Day is about thinking of my mom, I am a mom, too. I now get to embarrass my kids often, lecture them, help them with homework and do all the great things I want to do as a mom. I can only hope my children love me as much as I love my mom.

Happy Mother’s Day to every mom!

Julie Boselly is the publisher of The Woodinville Weekly, Northlake News and The Valley View. Her mother, Carol Edwards, was the founder and publisher of the newspapers from 1976 until 2007"