Did I Ever Tell You You're My Hero?
Music: Wind Beneath My Wings
Artist: Bette Midler
Shared by: Jo for her Mum
“She was, and always will be my hero, throughout my life and most certainly throughout the course of her death.”
Music To Die For....I knew the first time I heard about this wonderful project back in Jan 2025 that it was a profound and beautiful thing. And I knew there would be a time in the coming months when I would look to it for comfort and reassurance.
We found out about my mum's Motor Neuron Disease diagnosis in the summer of '24. I started off hopeful that we would find something, anything, to delay the inevitable. My mum was 75 at the time but still had so much life left in her. My hope soon faded and we were all left with the stark realisation that a diagnosis like this in later life means letting go of hope and expectation and turning to love and gratitude.
We tried to accept that this was now about making the most of the time we still had with this wonderful woman and even amongst the meds, appointments and difficult conversations she did her best to make it easy. To see my mum, so full of life - the woman that gave me life - deal with so many challenges was so very hard but also strangely beautiful. With her unrelenting bravery, strength and humour we did our best as a family to navigate the road ahead and ensure that she knew just how much she was loved.
She was effortlessly funny and whilst she was in the hospice we talked about her funeral wishes. She wanted it to be a celebration of her life and it was that for sure. When discussing song choice we toid with the idea of her ongoing joke that she wanted to be cremated to Take That's 'Relight My Fire' but decided it may be too much for some. There was though, no doubt about 'Wind Beneath My Wings' being a song choice. Mum was a fan of Bette Midler and loved the film ‘Beaches’. When it was released in 1989, when I was 14 Years old, I remember going to a record shop and using my pocket money to buy it for her. She was, and always will be my hero, throughout my life and most certainly throughout the course of her death.
The meaning of the metaphor 'Wind Beneath My Wings' is fairly obvious but worth mentioning.
'A person who acts as an essential and often unacknowledged support system, providing encouragement and support for someone else to succeed. It signifies a source of lift, guidance and unconditional support.'
She was all of these things and so much more to me and all of those that were so very lucky to have known her and have been a part of her truly love-filled life.
I miss her so much every day X