Mariam saw now the sacrifices a mother made. Decency was but one. 

she was leaving the world as a woman who had loved and been loved back.She was leaving it as a friend, a companion, a guardian. A mother.

In her view, people, even if they had behaved deplorably in life, deserved a modicum of dignity in death. Especially family. - Marko's mother

To see her, amid all of it. To see that contentment and beauty were not unattainable things.

She was my mother and she would not leave me. This I had simply accepted and expected. I had no more thanked her for it than i did the sun for shining on me.