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By Rachael O'Connor
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A man has shared how one of his mother's last acts was to make her final Christmas a special one for her children.
Kevin Waite lost his mother, Carolyn, at 10 years old after she was diagnosed with cancer, but he remembers her feeling "larger than life."
"I only had 10 years with my mother, so all my memories of her are from when I was a kid," Waite, a musician, told Newsweek.
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"She loved pranking her sisters and brother, and they loved pranking others. We laughed a lot," he added.
Describing Carolyn as his "favorite person," he remembered her as "beautiful, smart, and creative. She loved arts and crafts. She loved cats as well!"
In a post on Threads that touched the hearts of hundreds of strangers, Waite recalled the confusion and conflicting feelings of seeing Carolyn go through chemotherapy and get sicker, thinking she would "live forever" but sometimes being afraid of how different she looked.
"I loved her, but sometimes I was scared to be in the same room with her because she didn't look like my mom anymore," he wrote in a heartfelt post on his account @kevdawgiedawg.
There was one memory in particular that stood out to him.
As Christmas 1979 approached, Waite's parents told him and his brother that there "wouldn't be much for Christmas" this year, which they accepted, as all they wanted was for "mom to get better."
So Waite slept in that Christmas morning, not expecting anything, and had "almost forgotten" it was Christmas.
But when he walked into the living room, he was "stunned."
"The entire room was filled with presents. There were bicycles, a drafting table, Star Wars playsets, and what seemed like an overwhelming number of gifts for my brother and me," he wrote. "I couldn't believe my eyes."
...
When he had a moment alone with his mother, she confirmed that she, not Santa, had brought the presents.
She wanted Waite to know that she had been secretly saving money to give him and his brother "one really great Christmas."
Two weeks later, Waite's mother died.
"That last Christmas with her, even though she took the time to tell me there was no such thing as Santa Claus, her act of surprising my brother and me with so many presents showed me she really was Santa Claus after all," he told Newsweek.
Life After Losing a Parent Early
Waite said that losing his mother at such a young age "left a deep cut that has resonated throughout my life, both good and bad."
"On one hand, I appreciate the idea of parenthood even more and try to reflect that with my own children. On the other hand, my mom will never meet my amazing kids, which hurts, because I am sure she would love them and they would totally love her."
He said he "hated" Christmas for a long time after his mother's death "because it reminded me of losing her."
But when he became a father himself, he began seeing that memory in a different way.
"What my mom did for us reminded me of what Christmas should be: magical. I've tried to create some of that same magic for my own children."
His story led to an outpouring of love from complete strangers, who sent their condolences and praised his late mother in equal measure.
"I'm so sorry. Your mom loved you very much," one person wrote. Another added, "What a fabulous mother you had."
"Your mother was the best, and she loved you and your brother very much. I'm so sorry you lost her like this," a third person commented.
Barnardo's, a children's charity, shares advice for adults in helping a child navigate the loss of a loved one.
Talking to the child about death is vital, as children may feel the loss more strongly, become confused about death or become concerned about the health of their remaining loved ones. The adult should feel able to talk openly about the deceased with their child to help them cope and explain death in an open and honest way.
Waite told Newsweek that seeing so many strangers be touched by his post was completely unexpected, but was "nice to see."
He said, "I felt good about sharing something about mom and keeping her memory alive."
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Sirena Bergman and Shakeema Edwards.
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