Ascension: A Mother’s Love Beyond the Veil

Over the past several weeks, I’ve been reflecting on my mom’s life. Who was Betsy Meyer? How did she shape my life and the lives of those she touched?

Betsy Meyer

I recently submitted a chapter to the upcoming Awakened Hearts anthology, where I talk about finally connecting the spiritual dots after losing close family members. After finalizing the first draft, I stepped outside to take our puppy, Enzo, for a walk. As I crossed the front yard, something caught my eye—a fabric banner, the kind people hang outside their homes for decoration, was on the lawn. 

My heart skipped a beat. The banner featured a dragonfly motif.

Dragonflies have become the sacred sign my mom sends me from beyond the veil—her way of letting me know she’s watching over us, sending love and support. If you’d told me two years ago, just before she passed, that dragonflies would be like having Mom on speed dial, I would’ve been skeptical. But I took that dragonfly appearance as confirmation: I was on the right path with what I had written.

Resilience and Grace

I saw firsthand what it meant to live through heartache with resilience. After the tragic loss of my older brother Billy—who passed away at just seven years old—my mom found the strength to leave a dysfunctional marriage. She somehow summoned the will to raise my sister and me on her own.

Despite that trauma, she didn’t smother or overprotect us. She did, however, live vicariously through us at times—especially when it came to academics or relationships. She was adamant about us getting the best education possible and often offered unsolicited advice about love. It wasn’t until I read through her handwritten notes, emails, and letters—saved in a folder marked “correspondence”—that I began to understand the “why” behind her high standards.

She had lived through a time of enormous social change. In her reflections, she wrote about how revolutionary it was for women to open bank accounts, apply for credit cards, or take out mortgages in their own names in the early 1970s. These were not just policy changes—they were personal victories. She wanted us to have choices, to never settle.

Unconventional Wisdom

Though my mom pushed hard for me to go to medical school and become a research scientist—her dream was that I’d discover the cure for cancer—she also imparted an unexpected bit of visionary wisdom when I was in high school. She said, “The job or career you end up doing might not even exist yet. Be open to that.”

She encouraged us to travel, to treat people from all walks of life with kindness, and to look for common ground in difficult interactions. She believed in seeing the good in others, even if—ironically—she didn’t always practice what she preached with her fiery personality!

After she was diagnosed with an aggressive, metastatic endometrial cancer, our conversations deepened into a kind of spiritual dialogue that reminded me of something out of a Louise Hay book. She talked about the emotional roots of illness—how unexpressed anger and resentment might manifest as cancer. It was raw, honest, and healing.

One day, not long before she passed, she said to me, “Don’t let the 9-5 world shrink your soul. Live up to your full potential.” She had been a successful creative entrepreneur, and she wanted me—and my sister—to live fully, bravely, and creatively.

Betsy Meyer (with Sandi D.)

A Bittersweet Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day has been the hardest holiday since she left this world.

On her last one, we watched her slip from her vibrant, bossy self—the day before she had asked her grandson to rearrange the hospital room furniture—to being unable to speak. That day, my sister and I knew the end was near.

And yet, one of the greatest acts of love came the day after Mother’s Day, when my sister and I made the painful but sacred decision to let her go peacefully. We arranged for hospice. True to her bold, sometimes dramatic spirit, Mom passed away on Ascension Day—a national holiday in France.

Fitting for someone who always aimed skyward.

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