Mom

She was a mother of three before her twenty-sixth birthday. Before her twenty-eighth birthday she had sent her alcoholic husband packing and was supporting her children on her own.

She worked night's car hopping and waitressing. By day she changed diapers, dried tears and did her best to be the best mom and dad she could be. Before long she landed a job as a teller, which without much planning led to a banking career for her.

She was den mother and a little league booster. She sewed costumes. She taught phonics. Without much assistance she was able to purchase her own house.

She dated but if the man she was seeing had no interest in her children than he was soon sent packing. One night while at the lodge with her boyfriend she saw that a trip was coming up to Palm Springs. She asked him to take her and the kids, he said I will take you but we will leave the kids at home. The man sitting to her right spoke up and said he would love to take her and the kids. She said agreed and that how she met her one true love.

They married and they moved to a bigger house. She worked hard to make her new life work and it did. Her children grew and developed into responsible young adults. At the bank she found herself in management and began taking classes to facilitate her climb up the corporate ladder.

Just when the future seemed set in stone health problems developed. She developed breast cancer. After a mastectomy she went back to work and began chemo treatments. After six months the cancer was in remission and after five years she was cancer free. He had a heart attack.

The children moved out and life began to mellow. Now that it was just the two of them they began to travel. Cruises and cross-country drives. They had a pool and a Jacuzzi put in at the house so they could entertain all of their friends.

They began to look forward to retirement but before any firm plans could be considered he developed lung cancer and before she knew it she found herself a widow at forty-eight. She continued to work and move up through the bank. She spent time with her children and her grandchildren. She bought herself a place near Laughlin, Nevada on the Colorado river where she could go relax on the weekends.

As the corporate world changed she took early retirement, sold her house and moved to the river full time. Before she became too comfortable in her new life of leisure she had a major heart attack and a second mastectomy when the breast cancer returned.

Today her health is good and she spends her free time visiting her grandchildren and playing video poker. She is a wonderful person and I am proud to call her mom.