A Well-Loved Woman

My sweet Mama, Susan Cecil Boone, passed peacefully February 16th surrounded by loved ones. You’ve often heard me speak of the love and respect I had for my Grandmother, but the woman who taught me the meaning of unconditional love is my sweet Mama.

My Mom, sister, and I

Those that know me well know how close I was to Mom. She was always the first to believe in my Dreams. Always the first to give me a hug on a hard day. Always the first to believe in me. It is her belief in me that first gave me confidence to be true to my heart.

I always described Mom as a walking cloud of love. Even with her dementia, even when she couldn’t speak, couldn’t walk, she still made an impact on those around her. She embodied unconditional love. You couldn’t be in her presence and not immediately feel lighter, happier, and freer.

Quote from one of her dearest friends

Everyone in our Celebration of Life Service on Zoom this past weekend said a version of the same thing: Mom was pure love, she made us better, and how well-loved she truly was.

There’s so much to say about my remarkable Mama, but for now I will share the three biggest lessons I learned from Susan.

Three Biggest Lessons from My Mama

1. Take the High Road — another consistent theme in people’s words and stories was Mom’s grace, elegance, and class. There were so many opportunities to take the low road, but I never saw her do it once.
2. It’s Never Too Late to Be Who You Are and To Do What You Want To Do — you might assume that Mom was always a Well-Loved woman, but in her eyes, that wasn’t the case. In fact, in her early 40’s she made a decision to leave a very successful career in corporate banking (I was 8, my sister was 6) to pursue her Dream of helping others as a licensed professional counselor. She went back to school to get her second advanced degree and spent years helping individuals and families, especially around a topic sacred to her heart: mothers and daughters. She wrote and published a beautifully crafted journal, Daughter & Mother: A Daughter’s Journal, to help explore and heal the primal bond that all women share.
3. Love with Your Whole Heart and Lead a Whole-Hearted Life: she often talked about a moment where she realized, that other than her family, if she died that day, she wouldn’t die a Well-Loved Woman. It later served as the seed for the business she would start in her early 60’s to empower other women to create more love, better relationships, and abundance in their lives. Mom loved. And after that moment when she decided to change her life, she loved and lived a whole-hearted life every single day.

Mom’s All-Time Favorite Poem

How many people
can you love before
it’s too much? she said

& I said I didn’t think
there was any
real limit as long
as you didn’t care if
they loved you back.

“Real Limit” by Brian Andreas, Traveling Light

For Those That Attended the Service

Celebrating Susan Video: 

Zoom Celebration of Life Service: 

Family Video

*Please note that these videos are both password protected. If you attended the service or are a close friend of the family, please email me or DM me, so that I can share the password with you. 

Other Momenta:

• Celebration of Life Program
• Celebrating Susan Playlist (some of Mama’s favorite tunes)
• In Loving Memory: A Collection of Memories and Sweet Sayings from the Service
• Susan Cecil Boone’s Obituary
• Donna Pinter, Mom’s best friend, talking about what she learned from Mom

What would Susan Want for Us?

Simply put? Love. Love others. Be loved. Lead a whole-hearted life. Make peace with others, but most importantly, with yourself. And if you’re not doing what you want or you’re not being true to yourself right now, it’s never too late. Seize the moment.

Be who you are because until her last breath, my sweet Mama shined and was pure love.