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pocon1 · 07-05-2005, 11:12 AM

Thank you all for your support. That is one of the nice things about the tfp. It is a diverse, good group of people. I am going over this afternoon and two of my mom's friends will be with our family as well. One is a nurse, so she is going to give my mom a sponge bath. Basically my mom has not eaten or drank anything in the past 24 hours, so we all think it will be before Friday. God damn it is so hard to put a date on your mom's death. Who knows what will really happen, but how long can you live in this situation without any water. But there is no sense in an IV because it will not prolong the quality of her life.
One thing I can be proud of is that I have always had a good relationship with my mother. Of course it helps that she was so strong so that when we did fight when I was a teenager she was able to absorb it. My mom was a teacher for 25 years, and retired when she first developed cancer. She earned her masters in early childhood development while going to night school. The stories she would tell about going to University of MD poor were something else. She folded pizza boxes, worked at Briggs meatpacking, babysat, and scooped ice cream to pay for college. She and my dad lived together on the married campus housing while working on her bachelor's. One Christmas she bought my dad underwear and put in cardboard tubes to disquise it under the wrapping paper. My parents divorced when I was 3, but my dad was a good guy. They just did not get along. As I mentioned before, he died when I was 18. My regret with him is that I did not know him well enough. There is so much I could have learned from him.
My mom was also very active in my Boy Scout troop. She and my stepfather participated in almost every camping trip, and when I got too old for scouts, they continued with Adult Leader Training. We camped everywhere, because it saved money on vacations. My mom was also not afraid of doing anything. She coached softball in her middle school for a couple of seasons. Once while pitching for batting practice she took a line drive right to the shin. the swelling and bruising were there for months. Another time she was pitching in a student vs teacher softball game. She was running back for a pop fly, spun around at the last second, and broke her nose on the principal's sternum. He had come from second base to catch the ball. When my stepfather, brother-in-law and myself all got our motorcycle licenses, she took the MSF course with us. She did not pass the course because she dropped the bike on the test and twisted her ankle, but she still took the course. When I was home with the chicken pox, she and I played catch every day out in the front yard because I was on the cub scout softball team. She was definitely not a wimp. The few times she spanked me she used a wooden spoon. I had to go get it out of the kitchen. Another time during a fight she kicked my bedroom door open. Did I mention that we all took karate together when I was a kid for three years? The instructors loved pitting these young guys against my mom because she was not afraid of them and they did not want to hit a lady. So she would hit them.
I will post later, but writing this out does help me.

07-05-2005, 11:12 AM	#19 (permalink)
pocon1 Banned	Thank you all for your support. That is one of the nice things about the tfp. It is a diverse, good group of people. I am going over this afternoon and two of my mom's friends will be with our family as well. One is a nurse, so she is going to give my mom a sponge bath. Basically my mom has not eaten or drank anything in the past 24 hours, so we all think it will be before Friday. God damn it is so hard to put a date on your mom's death. Who knows what will really happen, but how long can you live in this situation without any water. But there is no sense in an IV because it will not prolong the quality of her life. One thing I can be proud of is that I have always had a good relationship with my mother. Of course it helps that she was so strong so that when we did fight when I was a teenager she was able to absorb it. My mom was a teacher for 25 years, and retired when she first developed cancer. She earned her masters in early childhood development while going to night school. The stories she would tell about going to University of MD poor were something else. She folded pizza boxes, worked at Briggs meatpacking, babysat, and scooped ice cream to pay for college. She and my dad lived together on the married campus housing while working on her bachelor's. One Christmas she bought my dad underwear and put in cardboard tubes to disquise it under the wrapping paper. My parents divorced when I was 3, but my dad was a good guy. They just did not get along. As I mentioned before, he died when I was 18. My regret with him is that I did not know him well enough. There is so much I could have learned from him. My mom was also very active in my Boy Scout troop. She and my stepfather participated in almost every camping trip, and when I got too old for scouts, they continued with Adult Leader Training. We camped everywhere, because it saved money on vacations. My mom was also not afraid of doing anything. She coached softball in her middle school for a couple of seasons. Once while pitching for batting practice she took a line drive right to the shin. the swelling and bruising were there for months. Another time she was pitching in a student vs teacher softball game. She was running back for a pop fly, spun around at the last second, and broke her nose on the principal's sternum. He had come from second base to catch the ball. When my stepfather, brother-in-law and myself all got our motorcycle licenses, she took the MSF course with us. She did not pass the course because she dropped the bike on the test and twisted her ankle, but she still took the course. When I was home with the chicken pox, she and I played catch every day out in the front yard because I was on the cub scout softball team. She was definitely not a wimp. The few times she spanked me she used a wooden spoon. I had to go get it out of the kitchen. Another time during a fight she kicked my bedroom door open. Did I mention that we all took karate together when I was a kid for three years? The instructors loved pitting these young guys against my mom because she was not afraid of them and they did not want to hit a lady. So she would hit them. I will post later, but writing this out does help me.