WDWLVR
<font color=green>DVC @ The Boardwalk</font><br><f
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2000
It has been 11 years since my Mom passed and as I'm sitting here on a Sunday morning getting ready to head out to Mass it brings back so many memories.
1997 was going to be a milestone year for me. I turned 40 in March and was looking forward to a trip with my DH and my Mom in May to one of our favorite places - WDW. The Poly to be exact as that was my Mom's favorite and she was treating us to the trip.
In April she was having trouble breathing and after a visit to the hospital we found out why. She had stage 4 lung cancer. She had given up smoking about 4 years before but sadly it was about 40 years too late. Radiation and chemo would help the quality of life but it wouldn't extend her life. I knew from talking to a friend of hers who is a nurse that most likely we'd have her for a year at most.
My Mom was a very strong woman especially in her faith. She had raised my Brother and I with the help of my Grandmother. When I asked her one day early on how involved she wanted to be with the plans (already knowing what her answer would be) she said very involved and so she was. She scolded me when I mentioned some cemeteries I had visited saying that isn't where the Irish of the area are buried.
She told me she wanted to be buried in the dress she wore to my wedding some 7 years before. We also talked about how I most likely wouldn't be there when she passed. For some reason it just works out that way in our family. When my Grandmother lost her Sister who lived with us it was while she was at Sunday Mass. My Mom was at the nursing home with my Grandmother all day the day she died, yet when she left to come home for a short time to clean up and get something to eat that is when my Grandmother passed. We were all ok with this. Each person knew how much they were loved and we are believers that those on the other side help escort the family Member home.
The Summer was a pretty good one for my Mom. She had to have oxygen the whole time but she was able to get around the condo she loved (and had only been in a couple of years). She would sit out on her balcony and watch the world go by. She said she had no regrets. We talked a lot that Summer about life and love and family. I am blessed in that she adored my DH and treated him more like a Son than a Son-in-law and he felt the same way.
On Labor Day she fell and broke her hip after tripping on the cord of her oxygen. She recovered from that and was able to come back home but she had given up her chemo at this point and was getting weaker. That September I lost my job as the company I was working for had been bought out. Again I was blessed to find another job quickly (within a week) with someone who had once been a vendor of mine. I'm still with that company today.
Three weeks after starting my new job she went downhill. The last week of her life was very tough as she was in and out of consciousness. Being at a new job I was only able to see her in the evening and most times she wasn't awake. A friend of hers had called me and said she had been to visit her and she was awake and alert and waved to "Mary" in the hall. The friend said Mary (me) is at work she'll be here later. My Mom scolder her and said "not my Mary, Mary O'Leary!" Mary O'Leary was my Mom's best friend for most of her 68 years and had died 2 years earlier.
That Saturday I sat at the funeral home Mom had picked out and went over all the details not knowing is the arrangements would be needed in hours, days or weeks. I visited her after and even though she wasn't awake and alert told her all the final arrangements were made. She could go home to God when she was ready. We'd be Ok. So I wasn't very surprised when that Sunday when I came back home after Mass to find a message on the answering machine telling me she had passed. Yes she passed while Mark and I were at 7 am Mass. The same Mass we attended with her for the past 2 years. She was waked and buried as she requested back in April in the dress she wore to our wedding. A dress she had worn 7 years to the day before as we waked her on our wedding anniversary. Part of me thinks she left us near this happy occasion so we wouldn't be sad on the day.
Not a day goes by that I don't think of her or talk to her. When we are down at WDW we visit the brick we bought her that is on the path at the Poly - her favorite place. Thanks to her we have our DVC and we get to enjoy Disney and it truly brings back the many happy memories I have of her there. My only regret is that she never got to cruise on DCL. She loved cruising and loved Disney so I know she would have had a blast. Each cruise I take I spend a little time alone out on the verandah. It is a place I feel close to her as well.
Mom I love you and I miss you!
1997 was going to be a milestone year for me. I turned 40 in March and was looking forward to a trip with my DH and my Mom in May to one of our favorite places - WDW. The Poly to be exact as that was my Mom's favorite and she was treating us to the trip.
In April she was having trouble breathing and after a visit to the hospital we found out why. She had stage 4 lung cancer. She had given up smoking about 4 years before but sadly it was about 40 years too late. Radiation and chemo would help the quality of life but it wouldn't extend her life. I knew from talking to a friend of hers who is a nurse that most likely we'd have her for a year at most.
My Mom was a very strong woman especially in her faith. She had raised my Brother and I with the help of my Grandmother. When I asked her one day early on how involved she wanted to be with the plans (already knowing what her answer would be) she said very involved and so she was. She scolded me when I mentioned some cemeteries I had visited saying that isn't where the Irish of the area are buried.
She told me she wanted to be buried in the dress she wore to my wedding some 7 years before. We also talked about how I most likely wouldn't be there when she passed. For some reason it just works out that way in our family. When my Grandmother lost her Sister who lived with us it was while she was at Sunday Mass. My Mom was at the nursing home with my Grandmother all day the day she died, yet when she left to come home for a short time to clean up and get something to eat that is when my Grandmother passed. We were all ok with this. Each person knew how much they were loved and we are believers that those on the other side help escort the family Member home.The Summer was a pretty good one for my Mom. She had to have oxygen the whole time but she was able to get around the condo she loved (and had only been in a couple of years). She would sit out on her balcony and watch the world go by. She said she had no regrets. We talked a lot that Summer about life and love and family. I am blessed in that she adored my DH and treated him more like a Son than a Son-in-law and he felt the same way.
On Labor Day she fell and broke her hip after tripping on the cord of her oxygen. She recovered from that and was able to come back home but she had given up her chemo at this point and was getting weaker. That September I lost my job as the company I was working for had been bought out. Again I was blessed to find another job quickly (within a week) with someone who had once been a vendor of mine. I'm still with that company today.
Three weeks after starting my new job she went downhill. The last week of her life was very tough as she was in and out of consciousness. Being at a new job I was only able to see her in the evening and most times she wasn't awake. A friend of hers had called me and said she had been to visit her and she was awake and alert and waved to "Mary" in the hall. The friend said Mary (me) is at work she'll be here later. My Mom scolder her and said "not my Mary, Mary O'Leary!" Mary O'Leary was my Mom's best friend for most of her 68 years and had died 2 years earlier.
That Saturday I sat at the funeral home Mom had picked out and went over all the details not knowing is the arrangements would be needed in hours, days or weeks. I visited her after and even though she wasn't awake and alert told her all the final arrangements were made. She could go home to God when she was ready. We'd be Ok. So I wasn't very surprised when that Sunday when I came back home after Mass to find a message on the answering machine telling me she had passed. Yes she passed while Mark and I were at 7 am Mass. The same Mass we attended with her for the past 2 years. She was waked and buried as she requested back in April in the dress she wore to our wedding. A dress she had worn 7 years to the day before as we waked her on our wedding anniversary. Part of me thinks she left us near this happy occasion so we wouldn't be sad on the day.
Not a day goes by that I don't think of her or talk to her. When we are down at WDW we visit the brick we bought her that is on the path at the Poly - her favorite place. Thanks to her we have our DVC and we get to enjoy Disney and it truly brings back the many happy memories I have of her there. My only regret is that she never got to cruise on DCL. She loved cruising and loved Disney so I know she would have had a blast. Each cruise I take I spend a little time alone out on the verandah. It is a place I feel close to her as well.
Mom I love you and I miss you!
