Mom (revised)

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

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

She was den mother, little league booster and mother confessor. She sewed costumes. She taught phonics. With little assistance she was able to purchase her own house.

She dated but if the man she was seeing expressed no interest in her children he was sent packing. One night at the lodge with her boyfriend, she heard about an upcoming trip destination Palm Springs. She asked her beau to take her and the kids. He offered take her but wanted to leave the kids at home. A man sitting to her right spoke up and said he would love to take her and the kids. She agreed and so innocently enough the foundation was laid for her life’s love.

Before long they were married moving into a bigger house. She worked long and hard to make her new life work and to her surprise 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 written in stone health problems developed. She contracted 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 their friends.

They began to look forward to retirement but before any firm plans could be considered he developed lung cancer. In what seemed to be the blink of an eye she was a widow at forty-eight. She continued to work, moving up through the bank. She spent time with her children and with her grandchildren. She bought a place near Laughlin, Nevada along the Colorado river where she spent her weekends relaxing.

As the corporate world changed she retired young, 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 breast cancer returned.

Life settled into a comfortable routine her health was good and she spent her free time visiting her eight grandchildren, her great-grandchild and playing the occasional hand of video poker.

Than as life is apt to do another roadblock was thrown up in her path. Bone cancer was diagnosed and it appeared that a majority of the bones were involved. Treatment was designed to prevent spreading rather than defeat the disease. Monthly injections, radiation and various medications to combat the extreme pain have become a fact of life.

She has faced her latest illness in the same manner she approached every battle she ever faced in life. With pride, with dignity and with honor, if there is a way to defeat this monster she will find it. She never quits.

She is a wonderful person and I am proud to call her mom.

Originally posted: May 9, 2004

Revised: May 8, 2005