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I wasn’t sure I should take the photo. Sometimes you see something so sweet yet so intimate that even though it is a photo worthy moment you hesitate to snap the picture. But I had to snap the picture…its what I do..I view life looking for camera worthy moments. This was one – and one that might be sacred to my husband someday.

It was simple- my husband washing his 90 year old mothers hair over the sink. I stood holding a towel- then my camera – then the towel again.  I could have washed her hair but it became clear to me as we ate lunch during our visit that Sunday and chatted and then later prepared for the hair washing that my husband wanted to wash his dear mother’s hair.

My heart swelled as I watched the scene- I tried to busy myself – so I felt like I was helping but I was really just a spectator looking upon a scene so sweet and so endearing. I wondered how many times she had washed his hair and helped him dry and comb it. All those years gone by. She raised six sons. Six sons who love and care for their mother now in her sunset time.

My mother-in-law should be proud. She and Dad Sweeney – who we lost last December- raised some terrific sons. Each one different but each one a good man. I got to be married to one of them and I am grateful.

The first year Kevin and I were married and it was Kevin’s birthday  I sent my in-laws a card thanking them for raising such a good and loving person.  I often find myself wondering how I lucked out and got such a good guy as my husband.  Maybe it is a little luck and maybe fate and maybe a reward for something I did right sometime.

But as I watched my husband wash his mom’s hair I loved him just a little bit more than I did when I woke that morning.  It was the circle of life. Mother caring for child – child caring for mother.  What a wonderful testament to the mother she has been to her children.  A loving bond created. A love that will live on even as death separates them for a time.  Love is a thread that binds us from this world to the other. Love–the sweetest gift we can have on earth.

I am so blessed to have seen this love come full circle between mother and son. That is a gift to me.