How to Express the Unspoken

By Indu Balachandran/New York Times

Hugs, kisses, praise don’t come easily to us. Our family practices a stoic, unspoken love. So how do three daughters tell a dying mother how much we adore her? She was turning 92. A Google search revealed that Jackie Kennedy, Audrey Hepburn, Princess Grace and Anne Frank were born the same year as mother. On a card with their pictures, we wrote: “1929 was a good year for producing some elegant, inspiring, strong and classy women … We’re proud one of them belongs to us!” Our mother passed peacefully, days after her birthday. Without embarrassing her, we expressed our love.