Skip to main content

In the Arms of the Angels

Three weeks after my last post, I lost my mom, quite suddenly. It's been nearly four months and I am no closer to understanding, no closer to acceptance, and certainly no closer to OK. This, just two weeks before my beautiful daughter was born. Mom had been so excited about my first child. A child no one ever expected. A grandchild she had given up on. (Yes, she has four awesome and monstrously talented grandkids she saw daily, but none from me.)
At forty-five (when we found out) no one was as surprised as I was. No one was more excited than my mom. Every time I talked to her, she asked (usually her first words) "do we have a baby yet". The last time I called (the night before the morning I got "the call" was no exception. I told her soon. We talked about how we would get up there as soon as we could after so she could see the baby. I told her I would call her again soon. She sounded tired and I didn't want to aggravate an already delicate balance. (Another story, another time.)
I am forever grateful that I made that call that night as it was the last time I spoke to her (or at least that she spoke to me). I am constantly thinking of the things I did or didn't and the shoulda, woulda, couldas. I missed going home this last Christmas. I am thankful we made it for Thanksgiving. It still pains me to think about. My mom loved Christmas.
I know this blog isn't very organized and is, in fact, quite rambling but this is my mind in its rawest form.
I have mentioned this on Facebook and to friends and family more than once but almost every day I find myself wanting to tell her something. Every day, I long to see her holding Annaliese or to ask who she sees in her or did my sister or I do this or that. Every milestone makes me miss her more. I have a million pictures of Annaliese and a couple dozen or so of my mom but the fact that I will never have one of my mom holding my daughter just twists inside of me. I keep trying not to dwell on all this but it never goes away.
 I want to try to start writing here more regularly again and as disjointed and disorganized as this was, I needed to start by getting this out. I want to move forward and focus on my beautiful girl and her mom and siblings. If anyone still reads this, I'm sorry. And thanks.


Comments

Leslie said…
Yeah me too. All of the above.

I've never seen some of those pictures!
SQuick81 said…
I love you, Buddy. I miss your mom too (I know it is nothing like you do). I am glad that we went up there in February and got to hang out with her for a while. I wish we had stayed longer. Loves and hugs.
Anonymous said…
It was months after my mom and dad passed, that I quit going to the phone to call them. Just to tell them something that was going on in my life or that the grandchildred did. It does get easier, but takes awhile.

Hold tight to your memories and know that while you don't have the satisfaction of seeing it, your mom gently rocks Annaliese in her arms everyday. She whispers to her how much she looks like you, and she never misses a practice or play that Leslie's kids are a part of. And unbeknownst to you, she dries yours and Leslie's tears with the tips of her wings. She knows...
I love you...

Most Popular Posts

Mayberry Mourns

What a sad, sad day. In what has to be a national tragedy, beloved actor Andy Griffith, who raised untold generations of kids with his tv son Opie, has passed at 86. I have literally shed tears as if my own grandfather had breathed his last, again. If that wasn't enough sadness, a local celebrity (how he would laugh), has fought the great fight and lost. Ken "K.C." Carlisle, was one of the first people I had business dealings with when I moved to Dothan, almost 17 years ago. A nicer guy you couldn't have conjured. As sad as it is, I don't think KC could have asked for better than going out with Andy. Both will be missed and probably for many of the same reasons. The easy smile, the natural warmth, and the feeling that you are among family, are qualities that seem to fit both. As much as I wish l could claim to be friends with either or both, this is just the ramblings of an acquaintance (at best) and a fan. As a human, it makes me wonder... What legacy will I ...

Year of the Dork

So I'm watching TV and the disembodied voice of Tim Allen asks, "where is your road to happiness". I'm not sure what that has to do with soup but it made me think. What is my road to happiness? Did I miss the exit? Am I even in the right town? There is no GPS for the road of life but I'm pretty sure if I had one it would sound like Dean Winters in a Geico commercial... "recalculating". I realized that I've spent the last several years not actively trying to accomplish anything, not chasing any dreams, just coasting along through life, waiting to die. I wasn't even ambitious enough to try to end it. More like a passive suicide. Now past 40, in a dead end job and living alone, hours from the nearest hint of family, in a town with nothing left to offer, it has become clear that I have wasted at least half of my life (statistically), possibly two-thirds (based on family history). Not only am I doing nothing, I'm not even pretending to try ...

Seven Things I've Learned in Seven Months

Before my daughter was born, I wrote (OK, pilfered, paraphrased, and possibly plagiarized) a blog entry titled 99 things I hope to teach my daughter. Now, here we are, more than seven months in and I thought I'd share seven things I've learned. The things that she's learned had nothing to do with me. The things I've learned are all because of her. There is nothing better than the great big grin on her face when I walk into a room. There is no sound sweeter than her laugh. I can change diapers, wipe snotty noses and clean up spit up without a hazmat suit or throwing up. Not all babies look like aliens (it seems most don't in fact). Babies go through a LOT of diapers and baby wipes. A. Freaking. Lot. Eat, sleep, pee, eat, sleep, poop, eat, sleep, pee, and repeat. I have a lot to learn. (But I've learned a lot.) One bonus item that isn't on the numbered list only because it isn't technically from the baby... Mommy's job never ends. T...