My mom passed away on Monday, November 10, after a seemingly long but truly short battle with NSCLC Stage IV cancer (3 months). She had just turned 70 on October 30th. I was at her side as she took her last breath. I can only hope that she heard all that I said to her, including my eternal thanks for having her as my mother. I hope my dad will survive mom’s passing, she was his rock in life.
Rather than post about how terrible cancer is and how woefully under-funded lung cancer research seems to be (which everyone on this board already knows), I wanted to share with everyone the Lessons I Learned from My Mom:
What goes around, comes around. So always offer a smile, a helping hand, a generous gesture. It comes back to you 100 times greater.
Never doubt your gut instincts – they are usually correct, especially with regards to your children!
Hum a tune while you go about your work – it passes the time quite effectively, and everyone else starts humming along with you.
Do what you love to do in life - no excuses.
When all else fails, make fun of yourself.
Gourmet cooking equates to stress relief.
Always go to bed with an empty and clean kitchen sink.
My mom was effervescent (to steal a line from the ads for Schwepps gingerale). Everyone who met my mom loved my mom. Even my husband has confessed to his own mother that he loved my mom better than her. My mom had everyone laughing everywhere she went. It was like human sunshine.
My mom was the eternal optimist – the glass is always half full, no matter what. She was the glue that held our family together. She put everyone first ahead of herself, no matter what. In some ways, that altruistic quality led to her not being so attentive to her own health after retirement.
She had a fabulous sense of style and design. Even a trip to the grocery store required a nice outfit, including one of her many pins, and she had to fix her hair and “put on her face.” (makeup).
She was a gourmet cook, a seamstress of professional quality, a graphic artist, a psychologist, a knowledgeable and avid gardener, an interior designer (actual profession), and my best friend. I miss her terribly. I only hope I can be half the wonderful person that she was in her 70 years on this earth.
Dawn
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