Some days of celebration are a little out of the ordinary..and this is one of those days.It was 13 years ago on April 24, 1996 when I got the call...but first let me step back...
This is my mother's watch...simple and unadorned. It's a working watch, not a fancy dress watch. It isn't self winding, or battery powered..it's a simple, wind it yourself watch with a clean face, a sweeping second hand, and a twisted and well worn stretch band. And I love it!
I love it because in many ways, it is so like my mother.
I love it because in many ways, it is so like my mother.
My mother's hands were always busy...baking, weeding, sewing, washing, tending, holding and fixing. My mother never spent any time in a manicure chair...and I don't ever remember my mother even having her nails polished.
Every Easter of my childhood, I can remember my sister and I having our nails polished...we would get pink nail polish on our stubby little fingers and mom would call it good until the next Easter Sunday. You might think we would have replayed the ritual for Christmas, but for some reason, it was reserved only for Easter...but this day was neither Easter nor Christmas.
The week began with a birthday celebration on April 21, 1996, when mom took Steven out for his "breakfast with Granny"...just like she had done every year since the boys were old enough to eat alone...down to Mrs. Turner's they went for their special time together. She was going to wait until she came home from her trip back East, but then thought better of it, put off her packing, and went to breakfast. I can only imagine how special that was for the two of them. Mom liked to spend some one-on-one time with her precious grandson, and for Steven to have some time away from the "little brothers" and have some quality "just for me" time with Granny...and pancakes, don't forget the pancakes and cocoa!
On Wednesday, April 24, 1996 I took mom to the airport for her annual trip back East to visit with Dan & David & Marybeth. She would spend a glorious couple of weeks with them and I would pick her up from the airport and we again would have her all to ourselves.
The day went on normal enough and soon it was 5 pm and time to be heading for mid week church, Bible Quiz for Steven and Royal Rangers for Danny & Billy and Bible Study for me. Marc was on a business trip, I think it was to San Antonio.
Our dinner was relaxed and soon we were headed out the door, running just a tiny bit later than we would like when the phone rang...and I answered...thinking it would be Marc and risking running just a little late in order to chat with him. Steven's Quiz coaches would understand our delay.
But the phone call wasn't Marc, it was my brother,Dan....all the way from Virginia. "There's been an acident", thinking Mom must have fallen and maybe broken a leg, my mind raced to figure out where I would get a wheelchair to pick her up when she returned. But it wasn't her leg, "Mom's gone".
I couldn't wrap my mind around it...gone? how could she be gone? I had just put her on the plane, she was the healthest person I knew. He must be mistaken, there had to be some other explaination. He must be confused, he must mean some other mom.
In the moments and the days, months, and years that have now followed that hollowing moment, the truth is that yes, she is gone, but she is not forgotten.
Every Easter of my childhood, I can remember my sister and I having our nails polished...we would get pink nail polish on our stubby little fingers and mom would call it good until the next Easter Sunday. You might think we would have replayed the ritual for Christmas, but for some reason, it was reserved only for Easter...but this day was neither Easter nor Christmas.
The week began with a birthday celebration on April 21, 1996, when mom took Steven out for his "breakfast with Granny"...just like she had done every year since the boys were old enough to eat alone...down to Mrs. Turner's they went for their special time together. She was going to wait until she came home from her trip back East, but then thought better of it, put off her packing, and went to breakfast. I can only imagine how special that was for the two of them. Mom liked to spend some one-on-one time with her precious grandson, and for Steven to have some time away from the "little brothers" and have some quality "just for me" time with Granny...and pancakes, don't forget the pancakes and cocoa!
On Wednesday, April 24, 1996 I took mom to the airport for her annual trip back East to visit with Dan & David & Marybeth. She would spend a glorious couple of weeks with them and I would pick her up from the airport and we again would have her all to ourselves.
The day went on normal enough and soon it was 5 pm and time to be heading for mid week church, Bible Quiz for Steven and Royal Rangers for Danny & Billy and Bible Study for me. Marc was on a business trip, I think it was to San Antonio.
Our dinner was relaxed and soon we were headed out the door, running just a tiny bit later than we would like when the phone rang...and I answered...thinking it would be Marc and risking running just a little late in order to chat with him. Steven's Quiz coaches would understand our delay.
But the phone call wasn't Marc, it was my brother,Dan....all the way from Virginia. "There's been an acident", thinking Mom must have fallen and maybe broken a leg, my mind raced to figure out where I would get a wheelchair to pick her up when she returned. But it wasn't her leg, "Mom's gone".
I couldn't wrap my mind around it...gone? how could she be gone? I had just put her on the plane, she was the healthest person I knew. He must be mistaken, there had to be some other explaination. He must be confused, he must mean some other mom.
In the moments and the days, months, and years that have now followed that hollowing moment, the truth is that yes, she is gone, but she is not forgotten.
...so, thirteen years ago, on April 24, 1996 at 5:10pm I got the call, my mother was gone. She died from a massive heart attack as she was walking off the plane in Washington, DC.
So, can today really be a day of Celebration?....of course it can!
In the midst of the sadness of a broken heart, I celebrate my mother and all that she means to me. Today is the celebration of the day when she went HOME. One moment she was walking down a jetway and in the next instant, she was standing in Eternity, worshipping her Savior with parents, and siblings, her beloved Julian, and precious Paul Michael...together again.
And one day, I will see her again and join that happy throng. There will be no more need for watches, plain, fancy or otherwise. It will be as though no time at all has past.
And that will be the greatest celebration day of them all. No more tears, no more pain, no more parting...forever!
I love you Mom...and I will see you in the morning!
So, can today really be a day of Celebration?....of course it can!
In the midst of the sadness of a broken heart, I celebrate my mother and all that she means to me. Today is the celebration of the day when she went HOME. One moment she was walking down a jetway and in the next instant, she was standing in Eternity, worshipping her Savior with parents, and siblings, her beloved Julian, and precious Paul Michael...together again.
And one day, I will see her again and join that happy throng. There will be no more need for watches, plain, fancy or otherwise. It will be as though no time at all has past.
And that will be the greatest celebration day of them all. No more tears, no more pain, no more parting...forever!
I love you Mom...and I will see you in the morning!
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