Motherhood

My mother passed away this morning.

She's been in hospice at a nursing home since October.

The past two weeks, she's been completely out of it.

 

When we saw her on Thursday, she was a corpse,

just skin and bones, unable to move except she did manage to squeeze our hands, which meant she knew we were there.

 

I could write volumes about my mother. She was generous, kind, loving and practical. She coudn't cook worth a darn, but we all got fat enough. She was scrupulously clean, kept her house sparkling and her laundry white in the sunshine.

 

She loved our father. She loved her three kids and she adored her six grandchildren. She always had candy and little presents for the neighborhood children and she held court on her front porch on summer evenings with many of her wonderful neighbors.

 

But Mom was basically shy and reserved. She did nothing to put herself forward or stand out from the crowd. I think she had low self-esteem, but I knew she was pretty damned smart and beautiful. Beautiful enough to marry my good-looking father!

 

I will miss her. Everytime something happens, I want to run upstairs to call her and tell her. I won't be doing that any more.

I just hope she's listening....

 

                        Together again, at last.