I was there on March 28th when my mom passed away. Also with me was my brother, his wife, our dad and mom’s pastor.
The week before my wife and I had taken our vacation to visit family. Our second stop was to visit my mother, she had knee surgery two weeks prior and was in a rehabilitation center. When we were with her she was quite lively and joking around with us and the staff. She was in good spirits despite the pain and not eating well, she was having trouble keeping food down for long. Jana (my wife) had the idea to take her out for lunch that Monday; so we picked her up and drove over to Olive Garden and took in the sights along the way. It had been a while since I had visited her at home, most of the time I would see her at my brother’s place which is half way between.
While I was at her place I felt like mom was not going to be much longer for this life, I did not expect it this soon. Not even one week since I last saw her I got a call from my brother on Sunday that mom was taken over to the ICU. After some deliberating I decided to catch the first flight to St. Louis, where I met my dad to make the 4-hour drive to where she was. Before I even got on the plane my brother called to let me know “her eyes were still.” I knew then that this was the last time I would see her.
It has been 4 weeks since that day. At first I was OK with her passing. I knew she was with Jesus and in a better place, and I know that we all have our time. Also my brother and I had a lot to do in the first few weeks – calls to Social Security, insurance etc. I think the busyness and everyone giving support helped me cope with the loss. Now that things are settling (we still have a lot to do but the rush is over) the loss has become real.
