Lily hugged Mom tightly, her small arms wrapped around her neck.
“Thank you, Grandma,” she whispered.
“This is the best Christmas ever.”
Mom’s eyes glistened with tears as she held her. “Anything for you, my love.”
When we returned home, things felt different. Lily’s condition began to worsen, and we all knew what was coming.
But she carried those precious memories of the ocean, the stars, and the best night of her life, and it made all the difference.
The day we said goodbye to her was the hardest of my life.
But as heartbreaking as it was, I knew one thing for certain. My mom was a hero.
Sometimes, heroes don’t wear capes. They don’t need to.
They just need a little courage, a lot of love, and, in my mom’s case, a taxi driver’s license.







