My mother died last year of cancer a few days after Mother’s Day. She died at home. Before that she spent the last few months of her life in and out of hospitals and short-term care facilities. She was in the hospital on Mother’s Day that year. She had lots of visitors in the hospital: sisters, children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren on the Saturday before and of course that Sunday. Some brought flowers and many brought greeting cards.
Some cards were “Get Well” others were, of course, “Mother’s
Day” related. My mom always looked forward
to greeting cards for any and all occasions.
She enjoyed funny ones that made her laugh, sappy ones that made her cry,
and beautifully covered or adorned one to please the eye. Whenever mom was moved to a new facility, she
made sure I packed the cards to go with her.
In the hospitals, she sometimes was too weak to read her
cards, so we showed her the pictures and read them to her. The cards were on her nightstand or taped onto
the wall of her rooms. When she was strong
enough, she would ask to see a particular card as she did not remember getting
it. She would then re-read the card and make a nice comment about the person
who signed it. You never know what will
touch someone or how it will move them.
Those last few months, we were hopeful that she would get
better. After talking to the doctors and
noticing her decline in health the last few weeks, we knew our mamma would be
going to Heaven soon. So we brought her home as she disliked being
in the various facilities and really was wishing to go home. There are some sad memories in mamma’s last
couple of years after Dad had died.
However there were happy times too.
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