--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I think about my mother every day. But…" description: "\"I think about my mother every day. But usually the thoughts are fleeting - she crosses my mind like a spring cardinal that flies past the edge of your ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/090/meghan-o-rourke-9574_cardinals_i-think-about-my-mother-every-day-but-us_1272484.jpg" --- # I think about my mother every day. But usually the… ![“I think about my mother every day. But usually the thoughts are fleeting - she crosses my mind like a spring cardinal that flies past the edge of your eye: startling, luminous, lovely... gone.” quote by Meghan O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/090/meghan-o-rourke-9574_cardinals_i-think-about-my-mother-every-day-but-us_1272484.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/090/meghan-o-rourke-9574_cardinals_i-think-about-my-mother-every-day-but-us_1272484.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/090/meghan-o-rourke-9574_cardinals_i-think-about-my-mother-every-day-but-us_1272484.jpg) > “I think about my mother every day. But usually the thoughts are fleeting - she crosses my mind like a spring cardinal that flies past the edge of your eye: startling, luminous, lovely... gone.” [Meghan O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-o-rourke/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Brief, vivid memories of a mother appear suddenly, shining briefly before fading, evoking both awe and loss. **In simple terms:** Mother memories flash quickly, beautiful then gone. Key Takeaway Cherish fleeting moments. Themes memory loss family Mood nostalgic reflective Type poetic emotional When to use this quote - daily reflection - writing - grief counseling - family gatherings Key Concepts ephemeral beauty grief attachment Questions to Reflect On - How do you honor fleeting memories? - What rituals help keep a loved one's presence alive? A Different Perspective Moments may be brief but can leave lasting emotional impact. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind/) [Mother](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mother/) [Parenting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/parenting/) [Past](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/past/) [Philosophy of Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/philosophy-of-mind/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) [Spring](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spring/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) ## Related quotes > [As people who know me know, probably to a fault, I am usually not without thoughts and words.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-rhodes/as-people-who-know-me-know-probably-to-a-fault-i-am-usually-not/) [Ben Rhodes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-rhodes/) > [One can usually put one's thoughts better in one's own words.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winston-churchill/one-can-usually-put-one-s-thoughts-better-in-one-s-own-words/) [Winston Churchill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winston-churchill/) > [The intercourse of the sexes, I have dreamed, is incredibly beautiful, too fair to be remembered. 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It's that whole thing that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jason-elam/it-crosses-your-mind-every-once-in-a-while-that-it-s-the-afc/) Jason Elam > [I could wait for you forever, fight for you, or die for you. But what crosses my mind, which brings a tear, is that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-could-wait-for-you-forever-fight-for-you-or-die-for-you-but-what/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## More by Meghan O'Rourke > ['Hamlet' is the best description of grief I've read because it dramatizes grief rather than merely describing it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meghan-o-rourke/hamlet-is-the-best-description-of-grief-i-ve-read-because-it/) [Meghan O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-o-rourke/) > [Sometimes you don't even know what you want until you find out you can't have it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meghan-o-rourke/sometimes-you-don-t-even-know-what-you-want-until-you-find-out-you/) [Meghan O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-o-rourke/) > [Grief is at once a public and a private experience. One's inner, inexpressible disruption cannot be fully realized in one's public persona.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meghan-o-rourke/grief-is-at-once-a-public-and-a-private-experience-one-s-inner/) [Meghan O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-o-rourke/) > [There are many kinds of loss embedded in a loss - the loss of the person, and the loss of the self you got…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meghan-o-rourke/there-are-many-kinds-of-loss-embedded-in-a-loss-the-loss-of-the/) [Meghan O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-o-rourke/) > [One of the difficulties with grief research is that it risks making certain kinds of grief seem normal and others abnormal - and of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meghan-o-rourke/one-of-the-difficulties-with-grief-research-is-that-it-risks-making/) [Meghan O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-o-rourke/) > [This is part of the complexity of grief: A piece of you recognizes it is an extreme state, an altered state, yet a large…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meghan-o-rourke/this-is-part-of-the-complexity-of-grief-a-piece-of-you-recognizes-it/) [Meghan O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-o-rourke/) > [The people we most love do become a physical part of us, ingrained in our synapses, in the pathways where memories are created.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meghan-o-rourke/the-people-we-most-love-do-become-a-physical-part-of-us-ingrained-in/) [Meghan O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-o-rourke/) > [My theory is this: Women falter when they're called on to be highly self-conscious about their talents. Not when they're called on to enact…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meghan-o-rourke/my-theory-is-this-women-falter-when-they-re-called-on-to-be-highly/) [Meghan O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-o-rourke/) > [Grief is characterized much more by waves of feeling that lessen and reoccur, it's less like stages and more like different states of feeling.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meghan-o-rourke/grief-is-characterized-much-more-by-waves-of-feeling-that-lessen-and/) [Meghan O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-o-rourke/) > [I wasn't prepared for the fact that grief is so unpredictable. It wasn't just sadness, and it wasn't linear. Somehow I'd thought that the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meghan-o-rourke/i-wasn-t-prepared-for-the-fact-that-grief-is-so-unpredictable-it-wasn/) [Meghan O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-o-rourke/) > [For sure, the funeral industry seems intensely cynical to me and I don't think it is HELPING people mourn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meghan-o-rourke/for-sure-the-funeral-industry-seems-intensely-cynical-to-me-and-i-don/) [Meghan O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-o-rourke/) > [To mourn is to wonder at the strangeness that grief is not written all over your face in bruised hieroglyphics. And it's also to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meghan-o-rourke/to-mourn-is-to-wonder-at-the-strangeness-that-grief-is-not-written/) [Meghan O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-o-rourke/) > [A mother, after all, is your entry into the world. She is the shell in which you divide and become a life. Waking up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meghan-o-rourke/a-mother-after-all-is-your-entry-into-the-world-she-is-the-shell-in/) [Meghan O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-o-rourke/) > [But when my mother died, I found that I did not believe that she was gone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meghan-o-rourke/but-when-my-mother-died-i-found-that-i-did-not-believe-that-she-was/) [Meghan O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-o-rourke/) > [Like my mother before me, I have always been a good speller.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meghan-o-rourke/like-my-mother-before-me-i-have-always-been-a-good-speller/) [Meghan O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-o-rourke/) [Explore all 71 Meghan O'Rourke quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meghan-o-rourke/) ## More Cardinals quotes > [In the casino, the cardinal rule is to keep them playing and to keep them coming back. The longer they play, the more they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-de-niro/in-the-casino-the-cardinal-rule-is-to-keep-them-playing-and-to-keep/) [Robert De Niro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-de-niro/) > [The cardinal rule for hosting the Miss USA and Miss Universe beauty pageants is to expect the unexpected.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-barker/the-cardinal-rule-for-hosting-the-miss-usa-and-miss-universe-beauty/) [Bob Barker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-barker/) > [A rhododendron bud lavender-tipped. Soon a glory of blooms to clash with the cardinals and gladden the hummingbirds!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dave-beard/a-rhododendron-bud-lavender-tipped-soon-a-glory-of-blooms-to-clash/) [Dave Beard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dave-beard/) > [These cardinals trifle with me; I abhor; This dilatory sloth and tricks of Rome.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/these-cardinals-trifle-with-me-i-abhor-this-dilatory-sloth-and-tricks/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [The first thing I would like to tell you about death is that there is no bigger lie than death. And yet, death appears…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rajneesh/the-first-thing-i-would-like-to-tell-you-about-death-is-that-there-is/) [Rajneesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rajneesh/) > [I was very surprised when I heard that I had been chosen to receive the James Cardinal Gibbons Award.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-neville/i-was-very-surprised-when-i-heard-that-i-had-been-chosen-to-receive/) [Aaron Neville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaron-neville/) > [If self is a location, so is love: Bearings taken, markings, cardinal points, Options, obstinacies, dug heels, and distance, Here and there and now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/if-self-is-a-location-so-is-love-bearings-taken-markings-cardinal/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [You never know what's going to happen the rest of the way. You can't predict. You don't know what Montreal is going to do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-hernandez/you-never-know-what-s-going-to-happen-the-rest-of-the-way-you-can-t/) [Keith Hernandez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keith-hernandez/) > [The Jackdaw sat in the Cardinal's chair! Bishop and Abbot and Prior were there, Many a monk and many a friar, Many a knight…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-harris-barham/the-jackdaw-sat-in-the-cardinal-s-chair-bishop-and-abbot-and-prior/) [Richard Harris Barham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-harris-barham/) > [We fought a military war; our opponents fought a political one. We sought physical attrition; our opponents aimed for our psychological exhaustion. In the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/we-fought-a-military-war-our-opponents-fought-a-political-one-we/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [In life and business, there are two cardinal sins. 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