Where to begin ? My Mom she was an incredible person. Mom was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer in May of 2015, she put up an amazing fight for over a year but in the end it was just to much to overcome and she passed away on June 16, 2016. I kept saying it was a blessing and a curse. A blessing because we had a year with her and even though the possibilities were slim, there was a possibility that she would beat it. If anyone could do it Mom could. It was a curse because in the end, when we knew that the fight was over, we had to face the facts that this was the end and as hard as it was we quietly asked Mom to stop fighting, be at peace, and move on.


Good-Bye, it is time to go, those are very hard words to say. What you really want to scream is please stay I’m not ready to give you up yet.


I hope that in the end Mom realized how loved she was by so many. Mom drove a school bus for 30 years, her kids loved her. She retired 20 years ago and even after all that time there are kids that still remember her when she drove their bus, some of these kids are 50+ but they remember her and reached out at the end of her life to tell her they had fond memories of her. That is pretty special.


Mom, the life of the party, ready for an adventure. She was a very social person, if there was a group to belong too she belonged. We were asked by the Preacher for one word to describe Mom, well that is hard just one, there are so many to choose from. Funny, loving, social, memorable, where do you begin. One world “altruistic” for as long as I remember Mom was always doing something for somebody it may be a small thing or a big thing but she was always doing something. She belonged to many organizations, all of which did something for others. Even her camping club did something for others. As a kid it would drive me crazy but looking back it was just who she was, it is what made her happy.


I will end this on a final story, one that epitomizes my Mom’s nature. On my birthday this year we all went out to eat and I picked a restaurant that served chicken and dumplings, a dish I love. Well the chicken and dumplings were not all that fabulous, not bad, just not great. I was a little disappointed. So my Mom who really was not feeling well at all made me chicken and dumplings, it took her like a whole week to make them but she did it. So she calls me up to come eat dinner with her and she happily spoons the chicken an dumplings on my plate and in that one moment everything was good, we didn’t think about cancer or her feeling bad we just enjoyed the chicken and dumplings. It was a good day.