M-O-T-H-E-R "M" is for the million things she gave me, "O"means only that she's growing old, "T" is for the tears she shed to save me, "H" is for her heart of purest gold; "E" is for her eyes, with love-light shining, "R" means right, and right she'll always be, Put them all together, they spell "MOTHER," A word that means the world to me. --Howard Johnson (c. 1915)

A spur of the moment trip found me on Captiva Island this past Tuesday.  The pictures on facebook of a huge shell pile were too tempting for me.  I hurriedly packed a bag, jumped in the car & drove the 2 hours south to Captiva for the 6pm low tide.  I had been digging my way through the monstrous shell pile when my phone rang.  It was Hubby.  "This better be good" I thought as I stopped excavating my way through the mass of seashells.  "The ambulance is here.  I think your Mom is having another stroke." He said soberly.  So, 10 minutes later I am heading back home to Englewood trying to keep calm & not let the thoughts in my head take over.  You know, the "what if's" and the "should have's".  "I didn't even hug her good bye", I thought to myself.  I just ran out of the house thinking about the stupid junonia that would have my name on it in that big shell pile.

Now, 3 days later, she is recovering from her 2nd stroke in 2 years.  This time there are swallowing issues & walking challenges.  As I watch her struggle to work with her nurses & various therapists I can't help but admire her courage.  No one wants to get old.  Certainly, no one wants to face illness of any kind.  Watching my mother be gracious, brave & trust the Lord in the midst of the storm that has just blown through her cerebellum is extremely humbling.  It makes me realize how thankful I am for every day we have together.  My Mom has peace in the storm because she knows who is sleeping in the front of the boat.

As Mom consumes the jello her nurses bring her to keep her nausea at bay, she reminds me how she taught me that trick some years back.  I balked at her offer of jello after my surgery 8 years ago and she insisted I eat it because "It would coat my stomach". Oh. All. Right. As I ate the bowl of jello she forced on me my stomach slowly settled and the nausea went away.  "You were right Mom.  You were right".  You are right about a lot of things.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there.  It's true - Mom really does know best.

(Re-posting from May 7, 2011)

My 74 yo Mother (GG) has not embraced technology although she is winking at it from a distance. GG had the cassette tape-thing down pat then I threw her a curve ball by gifting her a cd player. After several sessions of me instructing her she got pretty adapt at playing her new cd's except for one incident where she listened to the same song over and over and over all night long because she hit the wrong button.



 She has a cell phone that she forgets to charge and a tv that has 3 remotes.   I set her up a facebook account so she could keep in touch with her grand kids & some old high school friends but she never uses it. Just like the email lesson we had previous to  facebook she thinks if she hits the wrong key on the keyboard she will blow up China. 



GG has taken a shine to one perk of using the Internet - Bill pay.  GG hates to pay a bill any earlier than she has to.  I think she just doesn't like giving up her money any sooner than she has to. On the day of the bill's due date She usually races out the door to drive to the post office trying to get her envelope out on the last pony express to Discover or Allstate hoping it at least gets postmarked on time. This all changed the first time I offered to pay her bill online.  Click, click, click tap click - all done! as GG stares in wide-eyed wonder over my shoulder. She now pays most of her bills online vicariously through me. Happy Mother's Day GG. You know how to pick your battles.