Meg and Tara have been best friends since they were 14, where they met in high school in 1990. They were inseparable and so strikingly similar in stature and personality that their classmates would often get them confused. They were best friends through their teenage years and helped each other with various troubles and rebellions. They drifted for a bit after high school when Meg went straight to university and Tara stayed in their hometown working for a couple years before she headed off to school too.
They continued to correspond throughout their post-secondary schooling and although the communication was infrequent they never lost their friendship. Meg continued on to Pretoria, South Africa to continue her post-secondary education. She studied and lived there for a year before returning to Canada and ultimately settling in Nova Scotia, Canada. Tara worked and lived in Okinawa, Japan for 4 years after university before returning and settling in Ontario Canada. It was during Tara’s last year in Okinawa that Meg’s mum passed away in October of 2005; Meg was 29 when her mum died. Tara’s mum passed in December of 2007 when Tara was 31. Meg and Tara always had an amazing bond even when separated and now have become closer than ever since having both experienced the death of their mums at such a young age.
This blog is a recounting of their experience and their struggles over the past few years living without their mums.
They are both unmarried and have had no children. (Tara has been in a relationship for over 3 years-with no plans to ever marry). It’s been difficult for both of them to find any literature and/or stories about thirty-something daughters who have lost their mums. They have come across stories from women in their twenties who weren’t settled; weren’t finished school and had no idea about an occupation. There were also stories from many women who were very settled in life and were married with children; but Meg and Tara hadn’t found anything they could relate to.
This is what this blog will hopefully provide. It will be an outlet for Meg and Tara to express all the things they want to say about life without their mums. It's a blog to talk about living as thirty-something, independent childless women who are still searching for themselves. Maybe this blog will provide an outlet for others as well, so they can share their tales of mums who have passed.
This is for Cara and Carol. May they giggle at our thoughts and marvel at our insight. May they shed a tear with us in grief and may they ultimately know their daughters are going to be alright.
