Thursday, April 3, 2014
My mother, Helen, first and foremost, loved the Lord. An introduction to the Lord is the most important gift she gave me. I love her and am forever grateful to her for showing me what really mattered.
When Mom lost her son and her husband just two weeks apart in 2006, after taking care of them for years, her heart was broken. Though she was sad and often lonely, she preferred to live on her own rather than move near one of her three remaining children. How she loved her freedom and her ability to drive her car wherever she wanted to! She especially enjoyed driving to the beautiful parks near her home in Clayton, NJ and watching the geese and swans on the lakes while sitting in the warm sun or talking to folks she'd meet there. What she loved most was being able to go to church and joining in the worship of God with loving Christians. That was the highlight of her week. Whenever we spoke on the phone, she would say she was blessed and thanked God for His goodness to her.
When my brother, sister and I asked Mom to move near one of us so we could help her, as her health and mobility were declining, she was torn between family and her dearly loved churches. Finally, she made the move to New York to live in an apartment near me on March 7th. We went to the local restaurants together and checked out a nearby church. She met some friendly people in the building and liked the lake the apartments overlooked with lots of wildlife.
Then, sadly, she fell on March 18th and went into the hospital. It was discovered that she had aspiration pneumonia which had been developing over some time. When I explained to the doctors that I had been begging her to go to a doctor for the awful cough she'd had since October, Mom piped up and said didn't go to a doctor because she was "stubborn". She fought for her life heroically, believing she was going to get better. She still wanted to do so many things. It was horrifying to all of us that her life seemed to end so suddenly just when we were all looking forward to being closer together. But as Pastor Morgan put it, "God's timing is the best timing."
What I am left with is gratitude for the time to really talk with my mother and express my love and gratefulness for the life she gave me. I am so glad my brother and his wife, my sister, my niece and her mother, my nephew, my sister-in-law, and my neighbors were able to visit with my mother, too, so she knew she was loved by us all. One of the last things she said was, "See? We are a loving family." We will miss her wit, her love and her precious presence. Now she is with God who loves her best. Thanks again, Mom.
