Mother's Day isn't just about flowers, brunch and Hallmark
cards for some of us. It can also be a reminder of the mothers who aren't here,
as it is for Chelsea Handler. The comedian wrote a poignant essay about her
late mother, Rita, on Huffington Post this weekend. Read it at your own risk
(as in, with at least one box of tissues next to you).
"There have been days that I've picked up the phone to
call you, and then remembered," Handler says, addressing her mother who
died in 2006, due to breast cancer. "But it doesn't matter, because I know
you're here. I still feel you."
The hilariously brash TV host and author says her mother was
nothing like she is, but "shy and elegant," the type who covered her mouth
when she laughed. But she valued her daughter's self-confidence and strength.
"My mother told me to understand that not everyone would like me, but I
would be deeply loved by those who did," she writes.
"My mother knew who I was before I did," Handler
continues. Even though her mother died before the youngest of her six children
really hit it big and had her own show, she told Chelsea on her deathbed,
"Please take care of your brothers and sisters, because I know you'll be
able to one day."
Handler, who has a new show on Netflix coming in 2016, has
written and spoken about loss in her family before. Her brother died in a
hiking accident when she was 9. But it's still always a refreshing surprise to
see the serious side of the people who usually make us laugh.
"To every mother on Mother's Day," she concludes,
"Thank you for teaching us how to love."