Jocelyn Garrity Jocelyn Garrity went viral on TikTok for documenting her experience wearing her late mom's cowboy boots to Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter Tour The 34-year-old shared that her mom was killed by a drunk driver and was wearing the boots when she got in the accident Garrity told PEOPLE that she thought the Cowboy Carter Tour "would be the perfect moment to bring them back" For Jocelyn Garrity, choosing her outfit for the Cowboy Carter Tour was about more than the clothes themselves. The 34-year-old social media manager from Los Angeles took toTikTokto share the special way she honored her late mother at theBeyoncéconcert. In a now-viral clip,Garrityshares that when she was 16, her mother was killed by a drunk driver. Since then, Garrity has kept the bag of clothes she was wearing during the accident. She decided the Cowboy Carter Tour was the right moment to revisit her mom's belongings; specifically, her brown leather cowboy boots. Garrity had the boots restored atThe Shoe Labso she could wear them to the show and honor her mom's memory. "My mom loved Beyoncé because a baddie recognizes a baddie," Garrity says in the video. "Honestly, I haven't had a desire to wear cowboy boots or invest in getting them fixed," she tells PEOPLE. "When I was planning my Cowboy Carter outfit, I immediately thought this would be the perfect moment to bring them back." Garrity says that getting the boots fixed was "quite the investment" but "so worth it." Jocelyn Garrity "Now, I look forward to wearing them more often, even if cowboy boots aren't my usual style," she adds. Garrity recalls having "mixed feelings" while wearing the boots. "It felt so intense to be in the same shoes my mom wore when she passed away," she says. "I tried to avoid thinking about the depth of that, and instead focused on enjoying feeling connected to her in the moment. People always say that my mom is 'with me,' and I'm not someone who feels constant signs or messages from her. However, that night, it was nice to think that she really was with me." Jocelyn Garrity The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now! In the caption of her TikTok post, Garrity says that she attended the Cowboy Carter Tour three times and the first two, was unable to watch Beyoncé perform her motherhood-themed song "Protector." The third time, however, she "let myself sit in the moment." "The third night, when I wore the boots, watching Beyoncé lean into motherhood with her daughters on stage was a visual reminder of everything I've lost, and how beautiful a mother-daughter relationship can be," Garrity tells PEOPLE. "That was the only moment I really let myself think about the fact that my mother died in the shoes I was now wearing. I miss having her as my protector." She continues, "I do believe she's protected me from a spiritual realm since she passed — my life has been filled with unexplainable blessings — but I would love to experience her in this realm." Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE's free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Garrity's mom was 36 when she was struck and killed by an 18-year-old drunk driver who had two sober friends in the car. "That night changed my life forever," she says. "My mom had me when she was 19, and she was my best friend and the best mom to me and my two younger brothers. She was beautiful, funny, stylish, so loving, and sacrificed everything to give us a better childhood than she had. She worked hard and inspires me to this day. I am so grateful for the life I have because of who she chose to be in her short time. I miss her every day." Jocelyn Garrity Garrity has been involved in MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) since she was 18, sharing her mother's story at high schools, on the news, to NFL teams and to first-time DUI offenders. "I hope that by telling her story, someone might remember her the next time they're faced with the decision to drink and drive," she says. "Drunk driving is 100 percent preventable, and sometimes real stories are what people need to hear to understand the consequences." Read the original article onPeople
