A normal trip to the graveyard where my mother is buried changed my life forever. I went to her grave once a week and found comfort in the quiet. But on this day, I saw a stranger pick up the flowers I had put there and throw them away. When I found out this woman was my sister—a secret my mother had kept from me—I was shocked.
“It’s the living who need your attention, not the dead,” my mother had telling me. Still, I felt pulled to her grave to find comfort. But someone was taking the flowers away, which made me wonder what was going on.
I got there early and caught the woman in the act because I was determined to find out the truth. “I’m cleaning up” was a surprising answer from her. What she said next, though, really shocked me: “I’m also your mother’s daughter.”
What she said shocked me. What kind of secret could my mum keep? It was hard for me to understand how the woman who raised me could be the one who hid this truth.
When I looked into my sister’s eyes, I saw hurt and rejection. We were both hurt by the same lie. I chose to feel sorry for them instead of getting angry, and that’s that.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I had no idea.” Casey, my sister, told me about her childhood without our mother. I told you mine, the good and the bad.
After feeling awkward at first, we laughed and cried. We began going to our mother’s grave together and leaving flowers as a sign of love, not competition.
I learned about second chances and forgiveness from this event. The truth my mum told me hurt, but it also gave me a sister I didn’t know I needed.
As we stood by our mother’s grave one calm afternoon, I told Casey, “I think she’d be proud of us.” Casey sighed and put her hand on the grave. “Yes, I believe that too.”
I knew then that we were both going through a hard time with our pasts, but that we would make a better future together.
We walked away from the grave together. The wind rustled the leaves, and the silence wasn’t as cold. It was peaceful. The secret our mother told us brought us together and helped us start to heal.
Because Casey was in my life, I remembered that meeting someone out of the blue can lead to the deepest relationships. As we talked more about our past together, I realised that understanding and forgiveness can help us get over even the darkest secrets.
