One young woman is turning her mother’s death from breast cancer into a trip of love across the United States.
“Being grateful every day is an attitude one can choose to embrace,” says 29-year-old Mary Latham of New York, who adds that her trip of love across the United States is also a trip of GrAttitude.
On Oct. 29, a date she picked at random, Latham will her drive “her mother’s 2008 blue Subaru Outback to every state in the country, where she’ll meet with people and hear their stories about giving back, about good and positivity during a time when the political landscape is marked by turmoil and negativity,” according to the North Fork (New York) Patch.
Latham’s GrAttitude Project began after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in 2012. Her mother’s words of wisdom inspired her to create a Facebook page, and a website, moregood.today
“She told me that there were always going to be these terrible things that happen. You have to focus on that other story, that person who bought coffee for others. Those are the things you have to focus on,” Latham said in the interview.
Latham told the North Fork Patch that the GrAttitude Project is spelled that way on purpose, “with the emphasis on attitude — being grateful every day is an attitude one can choose to embrace.”
Latham’s mother was first diagnosed with breast cancer when Latham was 13 years old.
Her mother’s cancer worsened in 2013. Latham “found comfort and strength in sharing stories sent to her from individuals about random acts of kindness, including a roommate who lost a phone in a cab but saw it returned, to her door, by a good Samaritan,” according to the newspaper.
Eleven days after Latham launched The GrAttitude Project, her mother had surgery at Sloan Kettering. She died hours later when Latham and her family were gathered in the waiting room.
Latham promised her mother that she would turn the idea for the GrAttitude project into a book one day. She hopes that the published book, which she will write after the road trip, will be shared among hospital waiting rooms.
Read more of Latham’s inspiring story here.
