Thoughts about Mom..
Last Saturday my Mother, Judy, celebrated her 63rd birthday. I consider that quite the accomplishment considering she has full blown emphysema and she's survived several strokes and aneurisms. I got to talk to her earlier this week to wish her a happy birthday and to see how she was doing.
It's not looking too good. She doesn't have the desire to force herself to get up to fix dinner, or do housework. She has been basically a prisoner of her oxygen tank for about 3 years now. She smoked 3/4's of her life and quitting a couple years ago was the best thing she ever did, but she is paying for that even today....as we speak.
In our conversation Mom expressed, or it was implied, that she just didn't have the strength to go on. I was very hurt to see this, but she has endured so many things over so many years, I'm just amazed at how long she held out and how strong she was through everything.
It all started about 43 years ago. Mom married my Father, Lawrence in August of 1962. They pretty much started immediately to build a family. Over the course of 12 years, Mom had 2 or 3 miscarriages. I'm not sure exactly how many because she never really told us. We just know that she had children and carried them to term, and to my knowledge they were all stillborn. My parents have opposite blood types and that was the root cause. Or so I've been told.
Doctors told Mom that they would like to experiment with something during the course of her pregnancy with me. I believe they performed some kind of blood tranfusion which enabled me to survive the conflicting blood types. Along with an aggressive 9 months of hormone therapy, I was born. The same process was done to bring David into the world too.
So from the second I was born. I got to see first hand the effects and the tool that my mother took to bring me into the world. I watched as she suffered physically and emotionally from the hormones. I watched her raise my brother and I as best she could while watching over a convenience store from 7AM until 11 PM every night.
I could never say thank you, or express my gratitude for the sacrifice that my mother endured to bring me life, I just hope that in the remainder of her life and beyond, I can pay this powerful woman the tribute that she deserves. I love you, Mom, be in peace.
It's not looking too good. She doesn't have the desire to force herself to get up to fix dinner, or do housework. She has been basically a prisoner of her oxygen tank for about 3 years now. She smoked 3/4's of her life and quitting a couple years ago was the best thing she ever did, but she is paying for that even today....as we speak.
In our conversation Mom expressed, or it was implied, that she just didn't have the strength to go on. I was very hurt to see this, but she has endured so many things over so many years, I'm just amazed at how long she held out and how strong she was through everything.
It all started about 43 years ago. Mom married my Father, Lawrence in August of 1962. They pretty much started immediately to build a family. Over the course of 12 years, Mom had 2 or 3 miscarriages. I'm not sure exactly how many because she never really told us. We just know that she had children and carried them to term, and to my knowledge they were all stillborn. My parents have opposite blood types and that was the root cause. Or so I've been told.
Doctors told Mom that they would like to experiment with something during the course of her pregnancy with me. I believe they performed some kind of blood tranfusion which enabled me to survive the conflicting blood types. Along with an aggressive 9 months of hormone therapy, I was born. The same process was done to bring David into the world too.
So from the second I was born. I got to see first hand the effects and the tool that my mother took to bring me into the world. I watched as she suffered physically and emotionally from the hormones. I watched her raise my brother and I as best she could while watching over a convenience store from 7AM until 11 PM every night.
I could never say thank you, or express my gratitude for the sacrifice that my mother endured to bring me life, I just hope that in the remainder of her life and beyond, I can pay this powerful woman the tribute that she deserves. I love you, Mom, be in peace.
A touching and loving post.
ReplyDeleteYou should let your Mom know how you feel, how thankful you are.