Reflections

Megan is at it again, displaying her impressive cookie decorating skills. Here are her Mother’s Day designs:

 

I slept twelve hours last night! Today I felt much better. I spent part of the day working on address changes with still two thirds of the list left to do. Joe built a pantry cabinet to go in the garage. This meant he took down the existing shelving and moved things to our storage bay under the sunroom to make room for the finished cabinet.

It rained most of the day. Therefore, the cat outdoor structure is still sitting in the family room. As of now there is no rain forecast for tomorrow, so we hope to finish the structure outdoors and get the family room set up.

We also managed to get artwork up in the entryway, living room, dining room, and kitchen. The artwork helps to make each room feel finished. We still have the bedrooms, family room, and hallway upstairs to “decorate.” The house is beginning to come together nicely.

Today would be my mom’s eighty-fifth birthday. I took quiet time to reflect on my mom’s life. By most accounts she had a tough lot in life. I respect that she plowed through and did what had to do to take care of five children ranging in age ten to newborn when my dad had his construction accident. Living paycheck to paycheck, in a state where workers’ compensation had to be “proven,” meant there was no savings to live on. She took herself to the welfare office in 1966 and explained her husband had been in an industrial accident and he was hospitalized. The welfare staff informed her that she was able-bodied, and she could go to work.

So, she did. She flipped burgers for a brief time until she could secure a job in a factory where the pay was better. Neighbor girls took turns babysitting when they were available. Then my brother Kenny and I at ten and nine picked up the care taking. My dad was in the hospital for a year (I am told) until he was released and could enter both physical and educational programs to be rehabilitated. This took another 18 months. Meanwhile our mom was a single mom for two and a half years.

I saw my mom as super strong and resilient. I think she was happy until she got much older and then she was simply tired. She survived round one of breast cancer in her sixties and the subsequent heart issues caused by radiation treatment for the breast cancer. On July 16, 2016, she died from a combination of COPD, coronary heart disease, and cancer that had spread into her lymph nodes, liver, and brain. She was seventy-seven years old. She did a lot of living in those seventy-seven years.

The only reason I know Mothers’ Day is coming up soon is that mom’s birthday was close to Mothers’ Day, and because Megan is decorating cookies.  I wish mom were here to celebrate Mothers’ Day with us.