Mom and Dad

Day 21 has me thinking of Mom and Daddy.  As dysfunctional as we were, I still love them and am thankful for them.

Mom and Daddy got divorced when I was three, so life was hard for Mom.  She worked to provide for us.  We didn't have much in the line of material things, but she provided us a warm home, clothes and food to eat.  I didn't know we were poor.  I was just a happy, carefree little girl who's days were filled with giggles and fun with my brother.

Mom worked hard at a wool mill so I didn't get to spend much time with her because of that, but mom always kept a clean house and always had us something to eat at dinner time.

When Mom remarried, things got easier for her and she was able to quit working.  She sent us off to school every morning with a hot breakfast in our tummies.  And mom always made sure we were good kids.  She was a disciplinarian.  I remember some switchings I would rather forget!

Mom took us to church every Sunday and that's where I got my foundation for my belief in my God and Saviour.  She sang beautifully and sang with a group in our little church.  She always dressed so pretty and I thought she was beautiful. 

Mom is in a nursing home now, and suffers from dementia, but when I'm able to go visit her, we always talk of the people I grew up with and the people that went to our church.  She loves to reminisce of that time in our lives, and even though she suffers from dementia, she remembers those happy days.  We talk and laugh at some of the things she remembers about our friends, and we get quiet and sad when we talk of the ones who have passed.  And I love to guide her into conversations about her childhood and what it was like to grow up in that day and time with my grandparents.  I could listen to those stories for hours.

Mom's had a rough life, as far as her happiness goes, because she has always suffered from depression, but that made her laughter and her gorgeous smile that much more special.  My mom, truly was, and still is, a  lovely woman.  Her hair has turned silver, and her smooth olive skin has some wrinkles now, but the beauty of her youth is still seen in her face.

My dad wasn't around much at all when we were growing up, so I didn't spend much time with him.  He always worked on construction sites running the large equipment, like bulldozers and huge trucks, so mom would take me and my brother to see him at these sites, occasionally.  It's funny how things impress on our young minds, but the smell of freshly dug dirt always made me think of my daddy.  I can still see him sitting on top of one of those large machines, grinning down at me.

One summer, as a teenager, I stayed with him and my stepmom for awhile.  We spent the whole time camping with my uncle and his family.  I got acquainted with one of my cousins during that time and I still think of her and the fun we had that summer.

When Daddy got older, my brother who lived with him and cared for him, decided Daddy should spend some time with me, so Daddy came to my house for the first time ever.  Daddy was starting to lose his sight, but he still loved the outdoors, so I would take him driving up in the woods and mountains.  He kept wanting to see some deer, so I began to pray to myself that God would let him get a glimpse of just one buck while he was here.  We were driving on one of the backroads, when all of a sudden, I had to stop the car.  The reason was that the biggest buck I've ever seen in my life, slowly walked out of the woods right in front of my truck.  It casually strolled across the road, and, as light as a feather, jumped the fence on Daddy's side of the road.  It walked up the hill and out of sight.  As I sat there with my jaw dropped open, I glanced over at Daddy and he had a big smile on his face.  Because of his vision, I wasn't sure if he saw it or not, so I asked him if he did.  Still grinning, he just said, "yea."

Daddy would sit on the end of my couch by the window everyday and just sit there looking out, until one day I asked him what he was thinking.  He said he would like to see it snow while he was there at my house. 

Well, West Virginians know that you don't ask for snow, because it doesn't just snow here, it comes blizzards!  He got what he asked for.  It snowed so hard it knocked the power out for three days.  Thanks, Dad.

When Daddy was nearing the end of his life, I had a sudden urge that I needed to go visit him at the hospital, so I called mom, who was living in WV at the time, and told her I was going to see Daddy the next morning.  Me and Mom left at six o clock the next morning and was on our way to Tennessee.

When we arrived in the ICU, my sister was there and Daddy wasn't looking good.  I called my brother and told him that he needed to get there as soon as possible.  A few minutes later  when my brother arrived, we all gathered around Daddy.  There we were.  A dysfuntional family that had survived it all.  We were together once more.

Even though they said Daddy wasn't conscious, my brother leaned over to Daddy's ear and quietly said, "It's okay, Daddy.  We're all here now and you can go."  And within just a few minutes, we all watched as Daddy crossed over into life hereafter. 

No, we didn't have the normal "Leave it to Beaver" kind of household.  We were spread out and living our own lives, but in the end, when it counts, we were together.

I thank God for my mom and my dad and for all the traits they instilled in me.  It made me, me.  I love them both, and am so thankful for them.