“I’m here for a week. We are going to eat, shop, laugh, and have fun and then I’m going home to die. I hope you’re OK with that because I’ve already made up my mind.” Three weeks later my mom was gone.

In the wee hours of the morning 48 hours before mom died, I agreed to fulfill two of her wishes. Both seemed almost impossible to accomplish after she passed. Wish # 1 was for me to stop smoking as soon as possible. Wish # 2 was for me and my sister to care for my step-dad after she passed. Both quickly became a blessing and a curse.

If I had known then what I know now, I would have understood that the moment my mom made her declaration and the moment I agreed to fulfill her deathbed wishes, life as I knew it had been transformed instantly, dramatically, and irrevocably.

For the first seven days after her proclamation my mom, my sister, and I ate, shopped, laughed, and enjoyed deep meaningful philosophical conversations about everything that...