Though Mother’s Day is a joyous celebration for many families, it can be a point of tension for others.
On the May 11 episode of TODAY With Jenna & Sheinelle, co-host Sheinelle Jones shared details about her first Mother’s Day following the death of her husband Uche Ojeh from brain cancer. The couple met while attending Northwestern College and were married for over 17 years.
“I’ll be honest with you. It was kind of tough for me,” Sheinelle said. “I think when you have ‘firsts,’ and Mother’s Day was a ‘first’ for me since Ujeh passed, you fortify your heart, right?
She continued, “There are some holidays that you don’t see coming that are harder than you think. Mother’s Day was brutal.”
“He was probably the one who did everything,” said Jenna Bush Hager. “Or at least it’s somebody that can eyeroll, like ‘Here’s Mother’s Day!’”
Sheinelle said that she and her three teenage kids — Kayin, 16 and twins Clara and Uche, 13 — all “quietly realized” that Uche wasn’t there to participate in the holiday.
But the “silver lining of it all” was that the family unexpectedly had a very busy day. The boys had games at 9am and 7pm, and Clara had dance in between.
“I couldn’t stay in bed,” Sheinelle said. “And then watching Clara dance, and then my little guy’s been injured and it was his first game back, and then watching Kayin, he played on the higher team … I was, like, OK. It’s going to be OK.”
Recommended
“So ironic that you found your joy in your kids,” Jenna said, “watching them and being proud of them, which is what Mother’s Day really should be about.”
Though the day brought on a torrent of conflicting emotions, Sheinelle is proud of the way things turned out.
“I stuck the landing of it,” she said.
