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Happy Mother's Day |
May 11, 2008
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The first mother besides my own that I really got to know was Cheryl.
She was a single mom, working hard to support her kids.
And a damned good mom too.
Shortly after we first met, I asked her out. But she wouldn't go out with me until she observed how I acted around her children. That meant meeting in a public place. Our first date was a Saturday morning at the laundromat. Her son was with his father that weekend, but she had Jenny with her. I bought Jenny an Etch-a-Sketch. It was a big hit. She still has it.
The trial meeting worked out OK. She slowly became convinced that I wasn't an axe murderer or a child molester, and we started dating. That was 30 years ago.
She's been through a lot this year. She retired last summer to take care of her parents, who lived in New Jersey. She flew back to Colorado about every two months to take a break. Her mom has advanced Alzheimer's, and her dad was getting too frail to care for her by himself. Even with the aid of adult day-care and a visiting caregiver, it was a lot of work.
In February, her dad passed away. There was no time to grieve. Cheryl kicked into high gear and cleaned out the house, sold it, sold the car, found a home for the cat, got her mom into Family Health West, got her aging uncle into assisted living Tampa near Jenny, and flew across the country with her mom. This was all in the space of three months.
She's had a tough spring, but she came through it just fine.
This morning she checked her Mom out of the Alzheimer's unit for a couple of hours and took her to breakfast. This evening, I took her and our youngest daughter out to dinner. In between, she got to kick back and do nothing, which is pretty precious time lately.
To my wife, lover, and best friend, Happy Mother's Day. I hope you had a good one.
And Happy Mother's Day to the rest of you moms too. |
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