THE WOMAN WHO MADE ME:
A TRIBUTE TO MY MOTHER - mAGDALENE eLIZABETH BAILEY
The great love of my life has passed away. The sun set on her life on Mother’s Day, 10 May 2026. I could never have predicted in a million years that I’d be saying a forever farewell to my Mom so soon. My heart is in a million pieces and I can barely hold back the tears…even as I write this. Mother’s Day will never be the same again.
Where do I begin to describe this incredible human being?
She was first and foremost a Christian and her entire way of life stemmed from her beliefs as a follower of Christ. She was a gentle soul whose patience and steadfast faith I aspired to but never quite mastered. She never used to spank me as a child, she did something way worse… she told me that she was going to tell Jesus how naughty I was. I swear it killed me! “Not Jesus! Please don’t tell him!” I’d respond in my high energy, playful self. It worked. I could handle a spanking, which my grandma doled out without hesitation, but I couldn’t bear Jesus finding out about me. Needless to say, I was raised in the church.
My father passed away when I was eight and that was tough for an eight-year-old to understand, but my mother navigated that storm like a pro, even when she was just a young woman herself. I never have to wonder where I got my reslience or my strength from.
I often told my mother that I loved her more than life itself and to be honest I would gladly have suffered for her, when she got sick.
My mom had a great sense of humour. I remember how we howled out loud together about any and all things. We could find the funny in even the most dire situations, which I think accounts for the fact that all my books have a humorous undertone. She taught me to laugh even in the face of adversity… especially in the face of adversity. Even to her dying day she was smiling. That’s how strong she was and how rooted her faith in Christ was.
She loved to travel, but feared flying, a fear we conquered on our hilarious trip to Mauritius. That was one for the books! We had a blast. She supported my love of travel though she had some questions about my unquenchable desire to visit some rather uncommon destinations. While she supported all my dreams and goals, she wasn’t the kind of mother who’d tell me that I could be anything I wanted. No, no, she was more realistic than that. She always told me to be the best person I could be.
When my life was oscillating from north to south, she’d be right there beside me, encouraging me not to lose faith but to keep going. Whenever I wasn’t in the country, I used to call her three to four times a day, which annoyed her to no end! LOL. My mom was my best friend, my confident, my prayer partner, my shoulder to cry on, and my anchor. She was my life, really. Everything I did and became was for her. She knew the inner most depths of my soul and there was nothing I could hide from her, even in those times when I was thousands of miles away. She’d tell me “I can read you like a book.” LOL.
She loved to sing and I learned to play “The Old Rugged Cross” on the piano so that we could sing it together. Then she’d drag her sister and whoever was at the house into it as well, and the next thing you know, we were a choir. I miss her more than is possible to put down in words. Never being able to hug her again, cuts through my heart like a sword. But even now she would tell me to keep my head up and keep going. She was, and is, and always will be the love of my life.