Hey There, Mama

(no scanner yet, so this is
the only digital photo I have)

Quick post on the 17th anniversary of the death of my mom, Jean. She passed away January 23, 1996, following a ruptured cerebral aneurysm. Most people's response to that is, oh so it was quick. And my response to that is, not really. The initial rupture was quick, in November 1995; she went from having a bad headache to having a seizure in a couple of minutes. I was away at college; my dad, sister, and her (then) boyfriend got her to the local hospital and she was immediately transferred to NC Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem. She had surgery the next day, but it was a major rupture and she continued to have small strokes, until she was in a persistent vegetative state. My dad made the decision to disconnect her feeding tube; I didn't understand this initially but a nurse who is a friend of the family explained this was not something she was going to recover from, she was not going to wake up. I realized this was the best decision. She died about 2 months after the initial rupture.

Okay so there's another digital one;
I'm the baby in Mama's arms,
this is at my Grandmas' house
in Illinois at Christmas.

So enough about her death, let me talk for a second about her life. The older I get and the longer I am a social worker, the more I appreciate the family I grew up in - the calm, quiet, laid-back intact nuclear family. Aside from the stability, I grew up with plenty of valuable knowledge and skills, and the idea that you can pretty much make just about anything yourself; if you don't know how you can have someone show you, read it in a book, or figure it out yourself. My mom was really supportive of anything I tried to do, and I'm so grateful to have had her. Love you, Mama. Miss you. I hope I'm half the mom to these boys that you were to us ... :)