She always said she liked the chicken back - which I think you have to be of a certain age to even remember - and all because it was the piece left! She always came running when I needed her even when I was grown and terribly sick or sad and hurt or happy! She came and did whatever her hand found to do with all her might AND all her heart!
Memories of her sitting reading her Bible or praying are too numerous to count! Memories of the people she fed and cared for in countless ways - family and stranger alike! Memories of her love for my daddy and his for her! Memories of the beautiful flowers she grew and arranged in vases all over her lovely home! Memories of sacrifices great and small all because she loved! - all these memories and so MUCH more!
Now she doesn't remember the NOW and often not the WAS either. She doesn't remember names even of her 21 grandchildren and 28 and counting great-grandchildren. I know the day is fast approaching when she won't know my name and I can hardly bear the thought but I know and grieve that we have lost so much and are losing her inch by inch! She still desperately wants to be mistress of her own home and kitchen when she can hardly dress herself even with help and only totters unstably across the floor hanging on her walker (which she hates)! She refuses to wear her new hearing aids because she can hear just fine, thank you very much! It's everyone else who just talks too low for her to hear! Just getting out of bed is more effort than she has energy or desire to do even tho' she must so she can eat and drink and take her meds! She still loves pretty shoes and pretty clothes even tho' she can't comb her own hair! She still loves my daddy and wants to be as close to him as she can get holding his hand with his wheelchair the only barrier between. Truth be known: he and Jesus are her rocks!
She loves to read aloud but can't remember what she's read or comprehend it in the moment but still reads fairly well. She doesn't always know even her own 5 children and our spouses - not really know. She gets names mixed up but she loves with a great love that comes from deep within her heart! She still wants to teach the Bible as she has done as long as I can remember and then can't remember that she wanted to do that.
All this and so much more is the wonderful woman I call Mother! She's going to heaven soon and she's so ready! She's mentored countless people into God's Kingdom! She's loved and cared almost to a fault! She could always stretch a meal for just one more like the Fourth of July when she fed a huge crowd tacos with one pound of hamburger meat. Some of us got grease on a tortilla served with love!
Until two years ago she worked with the young girls in the church even wanting to take them into the woods to learn how to start a fire rubbing sticks together. She was mad that we came to visit and arrived earlier than she thought so she didn't get to go. I thought she should have kissed my feet for showing up so she didn't have to go!
All this and so much more is the wonderful woman I call Mother! She's going to heaven soon and she's so ready! It's the rest of us who have trouble wrapping our hearts around that reality!
Happy, happy Mother's Day, my wonderful mother! If it's your last then your next will be the best ever and someday we will be together again and your mind and body will be brand new! You'll be just where you've wanted to be for most of these 91+ years - face-to-face with Jesus your Savior and Lord!
I love you, Mother mine!
Memories of her sitting reading her Bible or praying are too numerous to count! Memories of the people she fed and cared for in countless ways - family and stranger alike! Memories of her love for my daddy and his for her! Memories of the beautiful flowers she grew and arranged in vases all over her lovely home! Memories of sacrifices great and small all because she loved! - all these memories and so MUCH more!
Now she doesn't remember the NOW and often not the WAS either. She doesn't remember names even of her 21 grandchildren and 28 and counting great-grandchildren. I know the day is fast approaching when she won't know my name and I can hardly bear the thought but I know and grieve that we have lost so much and are losing her inch by inch! She still desperately wants to be mistress of her own home and kitchen when she can hardly dress herself even with help and only totters unstably across the floor hanging on her walker (which she hates)! She refuses to wear her new hearing aids because she can hear just fine, thank you very much! It's everyone else who just talks too low for her to hear! Just getting out of bed is more effort than she has energy or desire to do even tho' she must so she can eat and drink and take her meds! She still loves pretty shoes and pretty clothes even tho' she can't comb her own hair! She still loves my daddy and wants to be as close to him as she can get holding his hand with his wheelchair the only barrier between. Truth be known: he and Jesus are her rocks!
She loves to read aloud but can't remember what she's read or comprehend it in the moment but still reads fairly well. She doesn't always know even her own 5 children and our spouses - not really know. She gets names mixed up but she loves with a great love that comes from deep within her heart! She still wants to teach the Bible as she has done as long as I can remember and then can't remember that she wanted to do that.
All this and so much more is the wonderful woman I call Mother! She's going to heaven soon and she's so ready! She's mentored countless people into God's Kingdom! She's loved and cared almost to a fault! She could always stretch a meal for just one more like the Fourth of July when she fed a huge crowd tacos with one pound of hamburger meat. Some of us got grease on a tortilla served with love!
Until two years ago she worked with the young girls in the church even wanting to take them into the woods to learn how to start a fire rubbing sticks together. She was mad that we came to visit and arrived earlier than she thought so she didn't get to go. I thought she should have kissed my feet for showing up so she didn't have to go!
All this and so much more is the wonderful woman I call Mother! She's going to heaven soon and she's so ready! It's the rest of us who have trouble wrapping our hearts around that reality!
Happy, happy Mother's Day, my wonderful mother! If it's your last then your next will be the best ever and someday we will be together again and your mind and body will be brand new! You'll be just where you've wanted to be for most of these 91+ years - face-to-face with Jesus your Savior and Lord!
I love you, Mother mine!
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