Remembering Mom on Mother’s Day

Happy Mother’s Day goes out to one and all, including moms to their fur babies.

This is my ninth Mother’s Day celebration without my mom, who passed away in April 2016.

There isn’t a single day that goes by when I don’t think of her, quote her or emulate her in one fashion or another.

I know I’m not the only one in the same position and for all of us that have lost our moms, it’s almost like a fellowship and we all know what it’s like to not have our moms around.

Granted, not everyone had a great relationship with his or her mother and that happens. I was lucky enough to understand her for she was, at times, a complicated woman early on.

In her later years, she relied on me for just about everything from finances to taking care of her mail.

I truly miss her and when I’m alone, I wish I could call her up just to hear her voice and ask her how her day went.

The last few years of her life, she was having issues and could not live alone so we had decisions to make and we placed her in an assisted living facility at Wyoming and I felt at ease knowing she was in good care and very close where I could just stop by to check in on her.

As her son, knowing she was safe at assisted living, it still made me sad that I could not take care of her properly at my house.

She was a very proud woman and not one that was very comfortable being in a dormitory style living. That feeling of sadness only worsened when the folks at assisted living said they could no longer take care of her and she needed long-term 24-hour care.

Don’t get me wrong, thank goodness we have options like nursing homes to take care of our loved ones, but as a child, your parents are your heroes and you could never picture them residing at a nursing home.

Being in a nursing home at Kingston wasn’t so convenient for me to pop by. I work predominately at Greater Pittston and heading down to Kingston wasn’t in my daily route.

Visiting her at the nursing home was always bittersweet. I knew when I got off the elevator she’d be positioned right there at the nurses station right in the middle of the mix not missing a thing. She never cared to stay in her room.

One of the joys she had in her later years was Skyped with her cousin in Italy when she would get the chance to speak the first language she ever spoke, Italian.

As I sit here thinking back, I really did love Mother’s Day, as well as Father’s Day. I admit Mother’s Day was always a bit more special for me.

Buying dad a Father’s Day gift was always pretty easy, but I often anguished over getting something for my mom. Whatever I got her, I wanted it to be special to make her happy. I spent many hours trying to figure it out before she was celebrated on her special day.

Whether she liked what I gave her, she always acted like she loved it.

In her later years, I’d make my own homemade card in the form of a poem. Naturally I had to make it funny and amusing and nothing made me happier to see her laugh as she was reading the card.

When she would read the card, I felt like I was 10-years-old again looking for some form of gratification that she loved the card. Knowing that I did amuse her just made me feel very happy.

Yes, the older I get, the more I miss mom as well as dad and I understand the stories when someone is about to pass away on their deathbed, they reach out and call out their mom.

Mom is the first person we think of and for many, she’s the last one we call out for in the end.

I will look forward to the day when I get to see my parents again.

I hope all moms out there are having a great day.

There were few Mother’s Day events this past week and both were at opposite ends of the spectrum. One event was for mothers and grandmothers’ residing at Wesley Village and the other one was a luncheon at Fox Hill with young moms with children in preschool.

It was pretty cool to see both ends of motherhood. The young moms so full of energy and excitement as many were first-time mothers and on the other end, moms so distinguished in their latter years all full of wisdom and life’s experiences.

I wonder what would happen if you put older and wiser moms and younger and energetic moms in one room. Would there be creative conversations or tons of questions on life? Who knows, but it would be an interesting setting.

Well mom, that’s it, another Mother’s Day column in the books, another one without you, another one wondering what it would be like if you were here, another visit to the cemetery, still missing you every day.

Quote of the Week

“Mama was my greatest teacher, a teacher of compassion, love, and fearlessness. If love is sweet as a flower, then my mother is that sweet flower of love. — Stevie Wonder

Thought of the Week

“A mother’s love is patient and forgiving when all others are forsaking, it never fails or falters, even though the heart is breaking.” — Helen Steiner Rice

Bumper Sticker

“Motherhood: All love begins and ends there. — Robert Browning