I discovered a 19-word notice my mother wrote earlier than she died

After her mother’s death, a woman found a 19-word note on a 3×3 hot-pink Post-it that has gotten her through some of the darkest times during the past 14 years. 

Blake Turck shared the heartwarming story of discovering her mother’s final message – a simple yet profound Post-it note bearing the timeless motto: ‘Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass … it’s about learning how to dance in the rain.’ 

Turck found her mother’s note while rummaging through her things after she passed when Turck was 29 years old.   

‘She wrote that message all those years ago, assumingly as a reminder to stay positive and hopeful, and never intended anyone to see it. That message became one of the greatest gifts she left me,’ Turck said in the Washington Post. 

After her mother’s passing, a woman found a 19-word note on a 3×3 hot-pink Post-It that has gotten her through some of the darkest times during the past fourteen years

Blake Turck shared the heartwarming story of discovering her mother’s final message – a simple yet profound Post-it note bearing the timeless motto: ‘Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass … it’s about learning how to dance in the rain’

‘She wrote that message all those years ago, assumingly as a reminder to stay positive and hopeful, and never intended anyone to see it. That message became one of the greatest gifts she left me,’ Turck (pictured with her mother Deborah) said in the Washington Post

‘She’ll be gone 14 years on Mother’s Day, and as the Post-it continues to fade, my connection to her deepens.’

‘In smaller moments of anxiety, or when I’m terrified of the future, its presence nudges me to be present and pause for gratitude. I hear her voice uttering those simple, still-cliché words, telling me it’s going to be OK. And I believe it.’  

Turck’s story began in the emergency room, when she got the distressing call that her mother had collapsed. 

Upon arrival, she received the devastating news of her mother’s metastasized cancer. Three days later, her mother died, leaving Turck to grapple with the aftermath.

Amid the clutter of her mother’s New York apartment, Turck said she found solace in the remnants of her life. 

She found unexpected comfort in the treasure trove of her mother’s possession, but it was a small pink Post-it note, tucked within her mother’s 2010 planner, that resonated the most profoundly.

Turck spoke about the depth of her mother’s struggles and triumphs – marked by loss, illness and unwavering positivity. 

‘My mother was prone to long-winded paragraphs in her writing that, while motivational, could also be called toxic positivity today,’ she wrote. 

From childhood to adulthood, her mother’s words of encouragement offered peace in moments of darkness (Turck and her mother in Vermont in 1982)

In the years that follow her mother’s passing, Turck (pictured) found herself navigating her own struggles. The Post-it served as a beacon of hope 

‘I recognize the irony that the most clichéd phrase of all — one typically relegated to refrigerator magnets — had become my most cherished of all her platitudes. I once took them for granted, but in their absence, I clung to each one like a life preserver.’

‘I wasn’t the type to hang clichés in my home, but the Post-it was different. It was the last of the sayings.’

But from childhood to adulthood, her mother’s words of encouragement offered peace in moments of darkness.

‘Over time, its literal placement in my life moved. After I first found it, I put it in my own paper planner (like mother, like daughter),’ Turck wrote. ‘I carried her words in each new planner — initiating every one by sticking the Post-it to the back page. When I got anxious or sad, I turned to it.’

Eventually, it moved to the mirror above my bedroom dresser, where it has remained. The bright color that once stood out has faded — now a mottled mix of pale hues. The sticky backing lost its ability, and now a small, transparent piece of tape keeps it on the left corner of my mirror.

As Mother’s Day approaches, Turck reflected on the legacy of her mother’s final message of resilience and hope that even in the darkest of times, there is light to be found – and in this case, it came in the form of a simple pink Post-it note 

Turck and her mother on the night of her prom (1998)

In the years that follow her mother’s passing, Turck found herself navigating her own struggles. 

‘Before her untimely death, I’d never suffered a major tragedy,’ Turck wrote. ‘Eight years after I discovered the Post-it, I lost a baby when I was five months pregnant. My grief continued through more loss and failure over the next five years. During infertility, the Post-it was a touchstone to my mom’s strength when she faced her own difficult days.’

But the Post-it note became a beacon of hope and a tangible connection to her mother’s strength and love. 

‘Every time, the 19-word mantra emanates a quiet optimism. One that had carried me through some of the darkest times when I needed my mother’s love or support the most,’  she wrote.  

As Mother’s Day approaches, Turck reflected on the legacy of her mother’s final message of resilience and hope that even in the darkest of times, there is light to be found – and in this case, it came in the form of a simple pink Post-it note.