Last night I got some unexpected news from my Mom. She called to tell me that my grandmother was taken to the ER over the weekend and they have found she has cancer in her pancreas and liver. More tests are to be done to determine how bad it is and how much time she has, but there it is. She's not been well for a couple months now, fighting a respiratory crud of some kind. We just had a great visit with the whole family last month in Missouri as we gathered for a memorial service for my grandfather. Sine his passing in January, I know she has been grieving, strugglng to get through the sadness. At the same time she is an incredible Christian woman who loved him dearly and knows he is in a better place. I know that is some comfort to her. My folks rushed back since they were gone when it happened, but thankfully my brother was there to get her to the hospital. She is a strong, wonderful woman whom I have looked up to all my life. I cannot imagine her not being here. I am very thankful for her legacy, her example of faith, endurance and determination to make the most of every moment of life. I am so devastated by this news, and of course my Dad is just absolutely jolted by it. I cannot imagine what he must be experiencing already having lost one parent then to find out the other is seriously ill all in such a short period of time. As we wait and pray, I am reminded how brief our lives truly are and how important it is to make the most and the best of every moment we have on this earth. I am looking forward to telling her how much I love her, admire her, and that I am not ready to let her go. But I know she is okay with it all cause she has had such a great life. I am so thankful for her. I hope I have the same lasting impact on my children and someday, grandchildren.
Joy and Light
Early Tuesday morning January 2, 2024, I got a call that my Mom was slipping away and the family should come. We knew she was not doing well these past couple of weeks as she had developed pneumonia and covid, and she was struggling just to manage breathing. When I arrived, the nurse brought me in to Mom's bedside, and quietly stepped out to give me some time alone with her before my Dad and my brother arrived. I cried like I have never cried before in my life, and went to my knees beside her, resting my hand on her arm. I have no words to describe what it felt like in that moment, the finality and the reality of it. My brain understood she was gone, no longer there. But my heart, regardless of how far gone Mom had been for years now..... my heart was suddenly flooded with the feelings, the sounds, the memories of her across my entire life, rushing through my head in that moment all at once. It felt like time kind of stopped, so I could have a moment to take it all in, co
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