HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY

So, hello. I know. It’s been awhile.

There’s a reason for that, which I’ll get to in this 500-word-or-less post. (A new goal.)

Since the beginning of 2019, life’s been hard for a person I love.

Mom.

She fell in early February. Hurt herself terribly. A collision with her apartment floor gave her a broken nose, and on her right hip, a hematoma, cantaloupe-sized.

At the end of February, she had cataract surgery.

She’d just healed.

Then, April happened. I have to write it like it felt for all of us.

A move, a fall, a middle-of-the-night call, an MRI, a hip surgery, a Transitional Care Unit (TCU), a fall at TCU, a middle-of-the-night TCU call, back to ER, back into hospital, a fall at the hospital, a middle-of-the-night hospital call, recovery, then back to TCU, another fall, another ER trip, another hip surgery – this time with a partial hip replacement, and a move to a different TCU, where she is currently healing.

My mother, Carol Trewartha, is a trooper, trying so hard to recover from a tremendous amount of injuries and change. I”m exhausted from reading the last paragraph and living in a crisis situation. I cannot imagine the road she’s walked so far in 2019.

As Mother’s Day approaches, I think of her steady hand all these years. The times I’ve come to her, asking for her advice. Mom always had advice at the ready – sometimes unasked-for, always in love. I wish I had her kind of answers for her now.

As I and my brothers and our spouses consider Mom’s next move, we’re thinking a lot of things. What would Dad do? (He passed away 18 years ago.) What’s the best care we can provide for our Mom? You’d think it’d be easy. You’d think all you need apply is common sense. There’s an oxymoron. Not so easy, these days.

But there is something “common” in my family. And that is, we’ll go to the ends of the earth to help one another.

Because we were taught by an only child who grew up to be a R.N. and loved working in “Peds” (Pediatrics), who loved children, always longed for a sibling (she had a sister seven years her senior but she was stillborn) and loved us – and still loves us and all her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

And so, we’ll give our all to find a solution for Mom – a woman who gave her all. Payback time. For her.

For those reading,

May you be encouraged by your good work.

May you trust your common sense.

May you know the mothering journey is truly a privilege, a beautiful thing and yes, even if we didn’t always say it, you are appreciated.

May you pause, let go, and forgive.

May you know that sleep deprivation is a sign you’re a great mom.

May you remember a great mother. And tell her so.

May you remember a grandmother. And remind her why you think she was a great one.

May you know your children really do love you and someday, they will express it.

May you sense just how much the world has always needed women.

And may you know that God loves you.

Happy Mother’s Day!