10 Years Gone

Ten years ago, at about this time of the morning, I received a call from my sister that my mother was gone.  It was not unexpected, she had been sick for a while and my siblings and I had all been home the previous weekend to say goodbye.  It didn't make it any easier, it never is, but we knew that at last, she was free of pain.

My mother firmly believed that God had a eternal datebook and that each day he opens it and there is a list of names on the page.  And if you're name is on it - then it's your time.  She used to say that when you would hear stories about people surviving plane crashes because they missed the flight or someone was taken too soon.  My mother had a good, long life and she got to meet LBA (seen above with her in 2005), but did not get to meet SoBA.

Social Media was just starting out when my mother was declining - and I used to get these "instant messages" from her that were laid out like email.  She was getting the hang of it and I say very often that she would have LOVED Facebook.  Not so much Twitter, though - my mother could never keep it to 140 characters.

My siblings and I have all faced challenges in these past 10 years and we've had a lot of great things in our lives, too.  Just the other day someone commented on Facebook that they had heard something that they wanted to call their mother and share with her - then realized she wasn't there anymore.  I feel that way a lot.

My mother also liked to say that in heaven you get to be whatever age you want and that you get to meet with whomever you like.  So I know that once she got there, after she reconnected with her family, she has dinner parties every night and all her favorites are there to hang out with her.  Frank Sinatra, Paul Newman came in 2008, Andy Williams stopped by in 2012.  I bet she hangs out with Juliette Gordon Low and Lady Baden-Powell a fair bit of the time as well.  I am sure that she was there to greet Bob when he left us too soon last September.

In her downtime (if she has any), I know that she is looking after all of us and that she is never ever completely gone from us.  I see a lot of her in SoBA (it's the gregarious personality and the non-stop conversational style), so that even though she didn't get to meet him - it's like she's always close by.

I love you Mom.