"My Mom's Tribute"

You know people die everyday.  Well, of course they do that is an obvious statement.  And they are buried everyday.  That too is an obvious statement. 

Why is this day any different than any other?

It's not, it's just that it's my turn to honor and bury my mother.

I know so many of you have been in my shoes.

You know, when I was little I use to worry all the time that my parents wouldn't come home.  That they would be killed in some tragic car accident.   I don't know why but at times when they would go out to a party I would be so worried that I'd cry myself to sleep.

...but that's probably for another therapy session.

I know those of you who are at my age are going through the same thing that my family has gone through right now.  Some much, much worse than what we've gone through with mom and I'm so sorry for you.  I feel like I've been a bit self absorbed lately in my own problems to check on all of my friends and their struggles and life situations.

Today we lay my mother to rest.

A beautiful, now perfectly healed body.

This has been a long, trying ride for my whole family.  But funny how we weren't [assigned] parts to contribute, we just took them on instinctively knowing what the other needed.

Kim, my mom's main caretaker

Jack, quiet sitter and comforter

Clay, the baby of the family, comforter to everyone and the helpful healer,,,well spoken with his knowledge of medicine.

Our wonderful spouses, "W" who has been my rock, Val and Mary who have been ALL of our rocks.
And our children. Amazing to all of us how they have picked up the ball and run with it knowing that "we" their parents needed that support....the tradition continues

Then there are friends who have been there through thick and thin.

Then there's me.

As I'm typing, I'm remembering little things about my mom.

Tears are hitting the computer keyboard while everyone around me sleeps peacefully.

My mom was the most selfless person I've ever known.  Seriously, to an irritating point.

She never felt worthy of praise.

She deserved praise more than anyone I've ever known.

Her main love was sewing as some of you know.  She was so obsessive about it.  As her rheumatoid arthritis got worse I would watch as her crumpled hands would maneuver their way around a needle.  As time went on and she moved to Birmingham (even up until the very end) she talked about the hundreds of cut out clothes that she needed to finish (and had planned to!)  She couldn't wait.  As my friend Ken so poignantly said to me in a message yesterday "mom is probably teaching Becky some smocking tips up there in Heaven right now."

These are just a smidgen of her handiwork.  She probably has oh,,,150 more outfits that her grandchildren have worn and that will be passed down to her great grandchildren.  And probably 100 more that are neatly packaged waiting to be finished.

She was always so proud to parade each and every one of her grandchildren at "The Club" for Easter hearing the many ooh's and aah's.

My mom was a simple woman.  Never complained, never said a mean word about anyone (well unless they said something about one of her kids or grand kids) then watch out....the tiger was outta the cage.

She was a "chocolate chip" mom.  One that had those warm gooey cookies waiting when we got home from school.

But,,,as simple as she was, she never realized the gifts she had....or the ones that she passed on for us to remember.

She loved the beach. 

 And had said really up until the very end how she wanted to go back.  She loved the peacefulness of the water and the soft, salty air blowing in her face.  She loved to dig her feet in the sand and play with her children and grandchildren building sandcastles.  We have some fond videos of all of us kids on the beach (when you could have a fire) roasting marshmallows.

I learned to swim in the ocean.

She was a tough cookie and wanted no wimps.

After a few swimming lessons she tossed me off a pier into the ocean and said swim.  She wanted us to learn our own way.  There to catch me in case I looked like I was gonna drown mind you.

Perfect.  Just simply perfect.

Today I leave you with my tribute to my mom.

Thank you for your support, thank you for reading, thank you for all of the messages (FB and others) and thank you for being my friend.

You guys have been my therapy through this and my other rock!

Have a wonderful Sunday y'all

kb