My Mom and her caretaker passed away on April 8th. Thoughts are prayers for both of their souls would be greatly appreciated. My Mom loved life. When my Mom turned 40, she went back to college so that she could become an RN. After she worked in a few hospitals she eventually worked in nursing homes and then finally she became a nursing home inspector. She saved countless lives over her years, she never talked about it, but I know that she did. Anyway, Mom was the exact opposite of Dad. My Dad was an extremely introverted, quiet, pensive, introspective, humble and "me last" kind of a person about everything. My Mom was loud, brash, outspoken, extroverted, intrepid, attention seeking and to be honest she was always a "me first" kind of a person about everything. . . and I mean that in both good and bad and I loved and hated that about her, but she was who she was. And I say that because I remember once when I got hit in the face with a baseball when I was a kid. My Mom ran onto the field to cradle her "baby boy's" face in front of fans, players, parents, coaches and everyone else to make sure I was okay. It was precious and sweet, but I was branded a sissy/Momma's boy by both boys, girls, parents and coaches alike for years to come. Thanks Mom!
My Dad was working, we lived in a really small town, and when he got home, he said "I heard something happened at the ballpark today. What happened?" My old man looked on in absolute horror (for me) as my Mom described exactly what had happened. They made the perfect team.
I met my wonderful wife 30 years ago this month. My Dad got to meet my wife once but, unfortunately, he later passed away 2 days before Thanksgiving, so he didn't get to be with us for the wedding. My wife and I were married about a year later. At our wedding, we hired a harpist to play during our Catholic ceremony and later on during our reception. We had a pretty intimate wedding, maybe 50 or 60 people, only family and very close friends. At some point, during the reception, we were sitting at a table talking and my Mom got up and excused herself and I didn't really think much of it. A few minutes later, I heard a very familiar song quietly playing and I looked over and saw her sitting beside the harpist because she had requested that she play a very familiar song for her. My lasting memory of my Mom will always be of the loudest, most brash, outspoken, attention seeking woman on the planet, quietly sitting in front of the harpist alone, with tears streaming down her face, not trying to seek attention but instead just quietly listening to the harpist play her
and my Dad's favorite song.