THANKSGIVING

2012

As I sit here reviewing the past year and what I am Thankful for, I have much passing through my mind.

 

 

 

 

 

To start with I am Thankful to be able to Love our Lord with all my heart and soul. I know he is with me always and loves me too!

 

Next I am thankful for my husband, he is always there for me and that is a blessing on good days and on bad days for sure! He is my rock, my soul mate and I love him so much!

 

I am blessed to have a wonderful family. My brother, 4 sisters, Mother in law, 2 stepsons, 1 daughter in law, 2 grandsons, 7 nephews, 9 nieces, 2 sisters in law, 4 brothers in law, 7 aunts, 7 uncles, & cousins (there are many), I am thankful they all are a part of my life.

 

I have many wonderful friends, if I ever need anything there is always at least one who will be there for me. Many friends have been in my life since Grade School, Jr. High, High School, & College and  although we are not physically in touch, through the magic of cyberspace we can and often do touch base weekly.  I have many dear friends who just happened into my life, they are blessings indeed!  Through my work with the area schools I have many friends and in my involvement with Girl Scouts, the Olney Arts Council and some other community endeavors in the past I have great friends. Now isn't this a wonderful blessing?

 

As I said at the beginning, our Lord is number one in my life and because of that I have the treasure of my Church Family, they are wonderful and so important to us. We are blessed indeed!

 

There are many four legged friends in our life and the joy they bring to us is so much fun, I love them a lot, and you know they love us back with no strings attached. Isn't that the way it really should be ?

 

Finally, we lost our Mom this year and I am very sad, however it is so good to know that she is in Heaven with my Dad and all of our family members that were awaiting her.  What a Blessed, Thankful table they sit at this year and I am sure they are sending their love to us here on earth this Thanksgiving.

Wow as I count my blessings I realize I am rich! 

 

Thank you God for Enriching my life, I am Indeed Blessed.

 

Have A Wonderful Thanksgiving. 

There Really Is No Place Like Home.

I began this blog in early May but did not finish it, however it is now time to complete it.

For the past SEVEN Months my Mom has been very ill.  She has spent many of these days in the hospital and at a Rehab Facility.  She returned home May 1st because that is what she wanted.  Now she is settled in her living room, in a hospital bed. Mom has lived in her home for 56 years and that is where she is most comfortable.                                     Since coming home, yes she still suffers, is weak and unable to do very much for herself but she is home.  We have seen her more at peace now and not having to return (as she did many times in the past while staying at the Rehab Facility) to the hospital with yet another health problem.  She has her dog Rascal,  he does not live up to his name, he is a loving companion although he too is suffering with age issues.  In addition Mom has Caregivers around the clock.  These women have a compassion for Mom and for her family.  There are six children in our family.  Three live within 45 miles and two of them are devoted to Mom.  God Bless them and their families for the care and love they are giving her.  Two of us are away: Patti is in Florida and I am in Southern Illinois.  We know how hard this is for the two sisters that are there for Mom, but getting away is difficult, my husband and I own two business' and Patti works for the University.  It is my sincere wish that I could be like Samantha of BEWITCHED and twitch my nose and be there to help.  However when my schedule permits I will try to get up there.  In late March we all got a call to come home as things were not good with Mom.  Things calmed down and Patti and I were there for several days in April, however Mom was not home just yet.

It has been two and a half weeks since my Mom went to be with the Lord. It seems like ages ago and then a very short time. It is a nightmare too. It was about this time (6:40 am)  Friday July 6th,  that Mike came in to where I was taking a shower and told me Mom was gone. WHAT????? I was shocked, I had just looked at her and she was sleeping, not gone. As I rushed to dry off and get dressed I thought Mike was mistaken. As I came into the living room where Mom was in her hospital bed, she appeared to be asleep without her oxygen on. I went to her and embraced her only to realize it was true, although she was still warm, she was gone.

Adeline, Mom's caregiver was in the room with me and urged me to call my sisters , so I would not be alone with Mom. Oh my to make those calls was horrible, to hear their grief was heart wrenching. I was so upset that I called Nancy my mother in law by mistake. I then sat there holding my Mom's hand and waiting for my sisters and brother to get to our home. As each one arrived it broke my heart to experience their grief as reality hit them. 

We are so very blessed to have my Husband, Mike as a part of our family and before Mom left her home for the final time he prayed with us and for Mom. Mike is a  Deacon in the Anglican Church and as he prayed  I really felt  God and the Holy Spirit in the room with us as  Mike's gentle, caring voice prayed for Mom and for us.

For the next 24 hours we went through the process of planning to lay Mom to rest.  We were all numb but were able to plan well together.  My brother bless his heart had to put up with five sisters and he managed quite well. We planned with Mom's wishes in mind and always agreed on every decision we made.  We were back at our home Saturday evening and I walked back into the room to be told I had been selected as the oldest, to give the Eulogy.  At first I did not want to, but we were all going to work together on it so I then felt honored to do this for my dear Mother. 

After the visitation the next day, we all came together to prepare our farewell to Mom, we cried, laughed and remembered fondly all of the wonderful, crazy and  loving things we experienced growing up in the home Mom and Dad had made for us.  I doubt many can say they were able to  come together as we were that night, in our Family home of 56 years.  We finished it at 3 AM so it most certainly was the final act of love we could give our Mother.

As it came time for the Funeral, everything seemed to go by very fast, we did take our time in saying our good byes before the casket was closed, that was so hard!  At the church which was Mom's church for over 68 years we had the Mass and my niece sang the Psalm which warmed our hearts and I am sure all the angels in heaven heard, then it came time to deliver the Eulogy.
This is our Eulogy:

We come here today to Celebrate our Moms Life. Last night as we were attempting to create this remembrance to honor her we laughed, sighed, shared a few tears and a lifetime of wonderful memories. Mom was the best and brought out in each of us the best we could be.

Mom was born in 1934 in Boston Mass, she moved to Evanston at the age of 9 attended and graduated from St. Athanasius. In 1953 Mom graduated from ETHS and that was the year she also met Dad. They were married for over 50 years and were blessed with 6 children.

We wish to share with you a few of our treasured memories.

Mom loved Christmas, she went all out for us. Mom saved all year to fill under our tree with plenty of presents and she delighted in watching us open each and every gift.                                                Mom had the best darn whistle and we knew we better get right home, we could hear that whistle all the way up to Willard playground. I would love to share the whistle but would not be able to do it any justice at all. Mom was proud of her children's accomplishments, I will never forget her smile and big hug after my speech at my HS Graduation.

Kathy shared how Mom would make light of stressful situations with a gentle joke. Can you imagine, she asked Kathy if she wanted to stop for a burger while on the way to the hospital due to Kathy's ruptured appendix. Mom and Kathy had a special relationship when traveling in the car, Mom always sat in the back  seat of the car and Kathy was able to chauffeur her very own special "Miss Daisy". She also cherishes her one on one vacation times in Florida with Mom.

Patti shared her eventful trip to St Marten with Mom; they had signed up for a boat trip across the island expecting a large boat only to find out that it was only a bit larger than a row boat, but Mom did it any way. Thanksgivings at her home with Mom & Dad, great spring vacation times when Mom & Dad were in Pompano. And a wonderful hug and I Love You from Mom after the typical highly emotional wedding week all Brides and Mothers experience.

Maureen had many special memories of ways Mom has helped her in her life and a specific one was when she stayed with Mom for a week and before she left she overheard Mom say she had to get off the phone because her room mate was leaving. Mom then turned and told Maureen "I love you honey".

Betsey shared how privileged and blessed she was to have Mom help her raise Matthew, and could not have done it without her help and guidance. Betsey also loved all the special quiet times with Mom during the past 8 months.

As you know, Mom has had 8 months of significant health issues and fought hard to survive. We came together to rally around her and believe it or not we had crazy times to get us through the stress and keep laughter ongoing. We played Charlies Angels, had hospital slumber parties, and enjoyed nicknaming most of the people we met along the way. When we brought Mom home we fell in love with her dear caregivers who treated her as if she was their Mom too. They proved to us why they are called  CARE giver.
In addition Mom had her very own personal Care givers, Kathy and Betsey have shared themselves totally these past 8 months loving, caring and making each day better for Mom. The rest of us knew how lucky we were to have them there for her.
Mom instilled in her children love for family. I witnessed it last night as we said our Good nights to Mom after the visitation, each of my sisters and brother embraced their children as they went up to Mom. It touched me deeply to see this and know that Mom will live on in each of us and her grandchildren because of this love.

We Love you so very much Mom, rest well.

 

My brother Tim was to say something else when I finished, but he did not.  In the Limo on the way to the Cemetery he told us I had said everything he wanted to and then he told us how he wanted to finish, well I think once again God had a hand in how this turned out and we encouraged Tim to have his talk in the chapel at the Cemetery. 

 

The procession from the church to the Cemetery went by and stopped by our Home one last time for Mom, it was so meaningful to all of us.  At the Cemetery  in the Chapel, Father Libera said the final prayers and then Tim stood up and talked about Mom and shared her whistle and told us we now wait to hear that whistle to call us home to be with her and Dad.  A perfect way to leave Mom, knowing she will one day whistle for us to come home.

 

God Bless you Mom and I am so happy that Dad was waiting to Welcome you to your New Heavenly Home!

 

Oh and by the way, We have decided to keep our Family home for the time being, after all:

There Really Is No Place Like Home........