Thank You Mom

My Mom passed away in 1992, it was a clear September morning. A week before she passed away we had taken a late summer vacation and were at Ocean City for a week, that last week of August, I remember her smiling, sitting on the beach beneath an umbrella, reading a book, sipping on an iced tea. I remember watching her hold my son's hand as she walked along the shore as he was picking up sea shells, and they were putting them into a bucket to take home. Each sea shell he picked up to show her, she showed the enthusiasm that she had always shown to him. See I worried about her because a few years earlier she had a heart attack and the doctors had told me that on ten percent of her heart was working, that was in 1990. I was blessed with a whole two years more.

I grew up at a very young age, my Dad died on 1 January 1966, I was only 15 at the time I went to bed on New Year's Eve and by the 2nd of January I was an adult with adult responsibilities and adult concerns. I remember my Mother. She tried so hard and she took his death to her soul. Mom was only forty six when Dad died and she still had two small children to raise on her own. We were in the midst of the Viet Nam war and she had two grown sons over there. Life was not easy.

Yet throughout the years, Mom was always there, she made sure that we were fed, and taken care of. She assured that we had a roof over our heads. When school time approached she assured that we had new clothes to wear, warm coats, boots, hats and gloves. She worked five days a week , and when she came home from work she would assure that our house was spotless and we had a good dinner. When summer came we never missed a vacation, she would pack up my younger brother and I and off we would go to the Ocean for a week in the sun and surf. We went to church every Sunday. As we grew older she made sure that we were able to go to concerts and movies just like our friends did. She did this alone.

When I got pregnant and had a son, my Mom was not in the best of health, and she moved in with me to help me, My husband and I both worked, she took care of our son and we took care of her. I never had to worry about my son, I knew that he was well cared for, and she loved my child.

The September that she passed, I remember we were at the Timonium State Fair on a Saturday, she said she was tired and she sat down by the concession stand, she looked extremely tired yet she had that faint smile she always had when she saw my son come running up to her with a bear he had won, he gave her the bear with a hug and told her that he had won it for her, that was Saturday. Sunday morning she told me she was not feeling well, I called an ambulance and she was taken to Johns Hopkins hospital. On Monday morning the Doctors told me she had had a slight heart attack and would be fine in no time at all, I buried her the following Monday morning, one week to the day after they told me she would be fine.

I was by her side for most of the time, for four whole days, she was on morphine, and had tubes running all over her body, yet she recognized me and would write notes to me, telling me that she was scared and asking me about my son if he was okay. I still have those notes, they reside in a Bible by my bed. My oldest brother came in on Friday and told me to go home and rest for a while, by the time I walked into my front door my phone was ringing and he told me Mom had passed on, I remember standing on the front porch and hearing the crickets, they were so loud and I was so very sad. I had just lost my best friend, she was no longer in my life.

My Mom's name was Evangeline, everyone called her Angie. To my Mom I want to say thank you. Thank you for being there when I needed you, thank you for correcting me when I had done wrong, thank you for loving me and caring for me. Thank you for guiding me and supporting me. Thank you for holding me when I cried, thank for laughing with me. Thank you for loving my son and being such a good influence on him. Thank you Mom for allowing me to be your child. Thank you for teaching me how to love and how to forgive. Thank you for my life. I will give you the flowers you liked so much on Sunday.

For those of you who are still blessed to have your Mom with you, remember the good things she has done for you, try to forget some of the mistakes she may have made for she is only human. Give your Mom a hug from me. Take care.......