Mom - A sad anniversary

My mom was amazing. While my dad worked, sometimes double-shifts, she took care of me and my brother, Donnie, and my sister, Pam. She stopped working as a beautician, a job she truly loved, to take care of us. That was some time ago, before both parents had to work just to make ends meet.

When I stole gum from the local grocery store and she found it in my drawer, she walked me back to the store to return it and apologize to the store manager. That is something that I never forgot and something that I will always love her for.

There are truly too many stories to tell for this little post. I will, on later posts, try to tell more. She was an amazing person. She has the greatest family and the best friends. They were and still are so wonderful through all of the pain.

In the summer of last year, 2007, we all noticed that mom's personality changes were becoming more and more evident that something was wrong. Dad took her to the medical clinic were they did a scan and found the mass on her brain. When we all gathered to get the news from the doctor about what kind of tumor we were dealing with I had a bad feeling that the news was not good. A few years before a friend and co-worker, Dennis Prewitt, was diagnosed with and eventually succumb to a glioblastoma multiforme tumor. At that time I had asked my father-in-law, a surgeon, about this type of tumor. The only words from him were, "I'm sorry". When my mom's doctor said those same words it was all I could do not to break down and cry right there. I did not want to dampen my mom's spirits. She was so certain that she could beet it.

We traveled from Indianapolis to Louisville either every weekend or every other weekend. Every time that I went I was going to say goodbye. I knew that, statistically, I would not be there when she died. Leaving was so hard. I loved her so much.

On this anniversary, I just want to put that out there. I know that she is watching over my shoulder. I just hope that she has good internet in heaven.