Okay, get your tissues ready. In Rory Feek’s latest This Life I Live blog post titled “Three Mothers,” he opened up about how cancer has profoundly impacted his family— his wife Joey Feek, his young relative Aimee, and his mother. Beyond his own relations, fans often share their own powerful personal stories with Rory. While it’s hard to cope with so many stories of tragic loss and grief, Rory realized something profound.
“I realized why I write a blog and books, and why maybe I share so much about hope. Because we need it. We all do. And the emails I get, and comments people write, mean that our story is helping someone. That Joey’s life and death is giving new life to others. That her example of being a light, even when there was darkness all around her, can make a difference to someone else this Mother’s day and every day,” Rory wrote.
With Mother’s Day celebrations kicking up around him, Rory’s thoughts were naturally turned to his own mother’s life and death. Rory’s mother passed away from cancer in 2014, only a year and a half before Joey died. In his recent book This Life I Live, the songwriter shared a story about his mother, her example in the end, and the impact she had on the whole family.
Despite being urged to quit smoking by her doctors and pushed to pursue different treatment options, Mrs. Feek had her own plan in the works— to die living.
“She had no plans to quit smoking again, or stop drinking or anything else. Her time had come and she knew it. She was going to live. That was her choice. She and we knew that she would most-likely not live long, but it was her choice and she was going to do nothing,” Rory shared in his book. “Over the next six months, she would show us, and everyone around us, what it meant to be strong. To have courage. To live. And to die. The way you want to. On your own terms. It was incredible.”
Rory and his siblings grew closer during this trying time and he later realized the importance of this bittersweet chapter in his life, “I had no idea at the time how important Mom’s death would be. Not to me, but to my wife. How Joey seeing her mother-in-law be so strong in facing the unknown, that it would help her in her own journey a year and a half later.”
As always, Rory has the most heart-wrenching insights. Though it must be difficult at times, we hope Rory continues to share his observations and wisdom.
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