Death of a Great Mom

My mom died last Thursday and I've been home helping my family through their grief and planning the funeral. Seven years ago, my mom fell about 10 feet onto a concrete floor and spent months in a hospital and rehab facility. She made it home and we've enjoyed her company, happy that she survived falls, respirators, multiple surgeries, and struggles with macular degeneration and persistent internal bleeding that would sometimes result in late night trips for transfusions.

While mom is a small person, her survival skills amazed us and we thought of her as "supermom" but age and medical problems finally wore her down - age was her kryptonite. Our whole family made to the hospital last Thursday to say our tearful goodbyes. My dad drove 200 miles, from Bradford, PA to Erie, PA, nearly every day to be with her.

The week before her death my wife and I visited and each spent time talking to mom, telling her stories of how she helped us out of jams and made us smile over the years. About 15 years ago, I started collecting Beanie Babies (I am not sure why I started collecting them :-)) and my mom joined me in that hobby and each time I visited home, we would discuss the latest Beanie gossip like the time I went to a MacDonald's in Andover MA only to find that there had been a riot over new mini-Beanies and the police had closed the restaurant down. Mom will be buried in two days with small mementos from friends and family. Today I write her obituary, probably with many tears.