When Mom passed away, someone gave me some really good advice. He told me "Forget the regrets; Remember the good times." I want to share a few of the good times Mom and I had together.
Mom and I took several road trips together. Dad didn't like to travel much, so he'd stay home while Mom and I would take our little adventures. Once, we took a bus tour into New Mexico and Colorado to see the beautiful fall foliage. That was a fun trip. We also made trips to Santa Fe, N.M.; the Grand Canyon; and Branson, Mo. I remember one time we went to Branson, and my aunt Phyllis was with us. We came out of a music show one evening, and Mom was pushing me in the wheelchair. It was a huge parking lot, and part of it was on a hill. As she pushed me, the wheelchair started rolling faster and faster and faster! I looked back, and Mom was literally running to keep the chair from getting away from her. Phyllis and I were both laughing. It's a wonder the chair didn't overturn with me in it. I didn't know Mom could run that fast, but she sure did that night.
Another memorable trip was a cruise to the Bahamas. I'd always wanted to go on a K-Love Christian music cruise. This took a little more convincing. Mom wasn't too sure about getting on a ship in the middle of the ocean. "Oh, I'll need to think about this for a while," she told me. I said OK, but I knew the cruise would sell out fast so I had secretly sent in a deposit to save a space. I finally convinced her to go, telling her we needed to do it while we were both still able to travel. I'm so glad we did it. It was a once-in-a-lifetime vacation.
If you ever saw my mom out somewhere, you surely noticed her trademark headscarf. She wore it everywhere. She'd tie it on even if there was only a hint of a breeze, which in the Panhandle is all the time. While we were on the K-Love cruise, we were heading to the outdoor deck for breakfast one morning, and Mom tied on her headscarf. I turned around and told her "Take that thing off!" She didn't want to, but she did. The scarf mysteriously disappeared for the rest of the cruise. I was accused of throwing it overboard, but we all know I would never do something like that.
We weren't sure if Mom would need her headscarf when she got to heaven, but just to be sure we put one in her hand before the funeral.
Mom was always my chief publicist / promoter. When my book came out, I didn't have a distributor. I didn't need one. I had Mom. When she'd meet up with someone, she would talk to them, then she'd say, "Did you know Chris has written a book?" I don't know how many books she sold for me. People probably got tired of hearing her talk about me, but that was my mom.
Everyone knows that Mom loved to talk. She would talk to complete strangers. She would usually end by saying "I just want to tell you one more thing." So here's just one more thing about Mom: People say she spoiled me, and I guess she did. I loved every minute of it, and that's just one of the reasons I loved her so much!
Wednesday, April 12, 2017
Tuesday, April 4, 2017
Accepting The Unexpected
This journey through life is full of unpredictable twists and turns, and my life just took one of those unexpected turns. I always knew that day would come, but I didn't expect it so soon. No one did.
We lost my dear mama on March 23. She passed away peaceably after a month-long struggle. She had fallen in her house on Valentine's Day. It was actually in the early morning hours of Feb. 15 when she passed out in the kitchen and fell. When she came to, she found two paramedics standing over her. She asked how they got in her kitchen! Thank God her life alert system notified authorities when she fell.
Mom had a broken hip and a badly broken shoulder. She underwent a five-hour surgery the next day to put rods in her leg and completely replace her shoulder. Then the long recovery process began.
She was in pain. A lot of pain. Mom was moved from the hospital to the Pampa Nursing Center, which is where I also live. Our rooms were across the hall from each other, and Mom began her physical therapy.
Mom tried to do the exercises, but she was just in so much pain. The pain medicine made her sleepy and confused. She did NOT like going to therapy. We nearly had to force her to eat. She insisted that she wasn't hungry. She tried to eat and do the therapy, but I guess you could say her heart just wasn't into it.
I could see Mom was tired. She was 81 years old, and she had spent nearly 50 years of her life devoted to taking care of me. I remember Mom saying she hoped she'd be here for me as long as I needed her. During the four weeks that she was here at the nursing home, she was able to see how the nurses and aides took care of me and that I was in good hands. Besides the nursing staff, I had Karen and my aunts and cousins to watch out for me. I think when she saw for herself that I would be taken care of, she decided it would be all right to go on ahead to heaven.
In her last few days here, Mom had a lot of anxiety, still struggling and worrying about those of us she'd leave behind. Finally, her heart of gold just gave out. They called it broken heart syndrome. It's a real condition and is basically a temporary heart condition that's often brought on by stressful situations or anxiety.
It all happened so fast. I don't think it has really sunk in yet that she's gone. I keep expecting her to walk in. I never expected it to happen this way. I've just tried to accept it as God's timing. He has a master plan for each of us. The Bible says we walk by faith. Sometimes, it takes a whole lot of faith to accept the unexpected. But if we'll hold on to Him, God will see us through.
We lost my dear mama on March 23. She passed away peaceably after a month-long struggle. She had fallen in her house on Valentine's Day. It was actually in the early morning hours of Feb. 15 when she passed out in the kitchen and fell. When she came to, she found two paramedics standing over her. She asked how they got in her kitchen! Thank God her life alert system notified authorities when she fell.
Mom had a broken hip and a badly broken shoulder. She underwent a five-hour surgery the next day to put rods in her leg and completely replace her shoulder. Then the long recovery process began.
She was in pain. A lot of pain. Mom was moved from the hospital to the Pampa Nursing Center, which is where I also live. Our rooms were across the hall from each other, and Mom began her physical therapy.
Mom tried to do the exercises, but she was just in so much pain. The pain medicine made her sleepy and confused. She did NOT like going to therapy. We nearly had to force her to eat. She insisted that she wasn't hungry. She tried to eat and do the therapy, but I guess you could say her heart just wasn't into it.
I could see Mom was tired. She was 81 years old, and she had spent nearly 50 years of her life devoted to taking care of me. I remember Mom saying she hoped she'd be here for me as long as I needed her. During the four weeks that she was here at the nursing home, she was able to see how the nurses and aides took care of me and that I was in good hands. Besides the nursing staff, I had Karen and my aunts and cousins to watch out for me. I think when she saw for herself that I would be taken care of, she decided it would be all right to go on ahead to heaven.
In her last few days here, Mom had a lot of anxiety, still struggling and worrying about those of us she'd leave behind. Finally, her heart of gold just gave out. They called it broken heart syndrome. It's a real condition and is basically a temporary heart condition that's often brought on by stressful situations or anxiety.
It all happened so fast. I don't think it has really sunk in yet that she's gone. I keep expecting her to walk in. I never expected it to happen this way. I've just tried to accept it as God's timing. He has a master plan for each of us. The Bible says we walk by faith. Sometimes, it takes a whole lot of faith to accept the unexpected. But if we'll hold on to Him, God will see us through.
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