'Someday memories may be all you have': Mum's powerful message to parents after son's tragic death aged 23

A US mum has shared a powerful message ahead of her first Christmas without her son.

Lindsay Simmons posted on the Facebook page Grown and Flown Parents, urging families to value only the things that truly matter ahead of the festive season.

Her son Ryan died in a motorcycle accident in June aged 23.

The Texas mum made the comments while discussing adjusting their family's Christmas plans last year with her daughter-in-law Lauren, Ryan's widow, who asked if she minded the schedule changing.

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"I didn't even have to think about that answer," Simmons wrote in her post.

"Absolutely not. Life is too short to get upset about trivial things, and now I really know how short it is.

"We still had Christmas, just on a different day. And I didn't nag or get upset or create a rift. I just let them do what made them happy.

"Guys ... life is too short. Make memories, even if they aren't perfect or exactly the way you want them. Someday they may be all you have."

Ryan and wife Lauren tied the knot just three weeks before his death, and this year was meant to be their first Christmas together.

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Simmons continues to share her grief over their devastating loss in a series of posts on her own Facebook page, tagging in her husband and Ryan's father Greg.

"I would have stayed at your housewarming party longer. Listened to you entertain your friends, laugh, tell stories (you were quite the story teller, and you may have embellished sometimes)," she wrote.

"I would have hugged you longer, tighter, taken in your smell. I've never been a hugger, but you were. You always held on just a little longer, sometimes just to annoy me.

"I would have told you not to get on that bike. I heard you start it in the garage with Dad. You just loved the sound of it. I stood in your kitchen and rolled my eyes when I heard it."

She said she'd told a friend she would be "so glad when he sells that thing" but understood he loved it.

Simmons – who is also mum to daughter Allison, who attends college – says she wishes she'd told Ryan how "incredibly proud" she was of him.

"I know you knew, but I would have told you again anyway. Graduating from college debt free, buying a brand new home at 23. A great job and a bright future ahead. You were a wonderful husband, brother, friend," she said.

"You were everything. I would have told you I was sorry for every mistake I made while raising you. I was so young and clueless when you were born, Ry. I really did the best I could, but I made mistakes," she continued.

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"The truth is, you saved me. You made me grow up. We grew up together. You loved me unconditionally, even when I messed up. You were so wise beyond your years, even as a little boy. You taught me more about life than I could ever teach you. Honestly Ry, I never would have left your house that night if I knew.

"Because no amount of time with you would ever be enough. I would have held on for dear life and never let you go."

Of their recent Thanksgiving celebration, she admitted it had been "brutal".

"We appreciate everyone who reached out, and we felt all of the prayers. This season is tough. Brutal if I'm being honest," she wrote.

"But we will get through it the same way we have the last 5 months."

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