I’ve written about my mom before so you know that her health has been iffy. She has come back from being nearly-dead so often that I was beginning to think that she was indestructible. Not this time.

Out of the blue, a clot lodged in her lung and there is nothing to be done. Or, to be more precise, there is nothing that she wanted to have done. She clearly told me so. And you know what, that’s OK.

Over the last few days, she started saying goodbye to everyone. I don’t know how she knew this was coming, but she did. She wrote cards, she was especially warm and loving with everyone. Monday she told me that she wanted to be cremated (already paid for), buried in a nice wood box made by Steve (it’s on his list to make), and that there was no need to dress her up in something when the time came. In fact, she said, if she looked good in what she was wearing and it was comfortable she was happy to go to heaven in that. My mother is a practical woman.

Mom and I have talked about death off and on over the years. We agreed that dying in your sleep, without pain, is definitely the way to go and that is happening now. Her friends have been visiting. When she was alert, she was practically radiant and she made everyone feel so good! It was lovely to behold. She is no longer alert but people still visit. There is some crying, but also lots of remembering how feisty she has always been.

I know that I will miss my mom a lot. She made me crazy sometimes, but she has been an ever-present, always loving part of my life. Her memory will always be with me.

Yesterday mom said “I wish I had time to….” I could see the wheels turning in her head and I asked her what — and she went to sleep. I suspect that there was just so much that she wished she could do that she couldn’t put her finger on one thing.

I hope that I can hold onto this thought. It’s a reminder to not let things go until ‘later’. To be kind, and to apologize right away if you know you should. It’s also a reminder to enjoy every day as if it’s your last, because it could be.

This is not exactly the Merry Christmas sentiment I planned to write this week, but I think it might be better. Truly, enjoy the holiday time you spend with those you love, and those you like, and those you might not be all that crazy about but who are in your life anyway. In the end, our lives are about people, not things.

For those of you who may be wondering…

10 days ago we all thought my mom was dying. ‘We all’ included her physician, the staff at her assisted living center, the hospice staff who came later, and me – the not-medically-trained quilter.

My mom is much beloved at her assisted living center and they did everything they could to help and that included finding round-the-clock sitters and getting hospice set up on a Sunday. It was an amazing mobilization of help. I was mentally making funeral plans.

During those 2 days, we all said ‘you know, she could get better’ but none of us really thought she would. And then, she did! I showed up early Monday morning thinking mom would still be practically comatose and there she was, eating breakfast in the dining hall!

She’s gotten steadily better over the past week and is now mostly back to where she was ‘before’. Let me just say that I hope I inherited her healing genes :-).

No one knows how long this will last, but isn’t that true for all of us?

Every day is a gift. Hold that thought in your heart, as much as you can.

Enjoy today with a smile on your face, a song in your heart, and sewing in hand :-).

This photo is one I took for my photo critique class with Ricky Tims.