When I began this tribute project, my hopes for it were somewhat modest, but important. I shared images from my mother’s life on Facebook —tiny slices of her then almost 74 years as a daughter, a summer camper, a counselor, a student, a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a friend, a teacher, a philanthropist, a passionate theatregoer, and a lover of language (to name only a few). I had hoped to create a living and breathing portrait, one that would both delight and remind my mom of the wonderful life she had lived and the range of people she had impacted and influenced. I also had hoped that in sharing these images, each day from February 1, 2018—one month after her diagnosis of metastatic pancreatic cancer— until January 13, 2019, the day following her woefully untimely death, I could somehow create and fuel a community of supporters to nurture those memories and to engage my mom in an online conversation that could buoy her spirits and positively occupy her time. I set out to harness the immediacy, range, and force of social media for good. And it worked.

This book captures that project and while telling the story of Jessica's life, it's also a love story, and one that celebrates mothers and daughters and more generally, the importance of sharing with each other while we can.

This book is also the inspiration for mission and one that I believe is a critical one: to help fund groundbreaking, life-changing research to defeat cancer, and in particular the pancreatic cancer that took her from us. In partnership with The Lustgarten Foundation, the leading-edge pancreatic cancer research group, donors of $75 or more to the I love you, Mom initiative will receive an e-book version of the book in gratitude of their kindness and support. If you are interested in learning more about the I love you, Mom initiative and would consider a donation, please contact me at swbass@optonline and I can provide the requisite information. Thank you!