From the category archives:

Memory Post Meme

July 31, 2007

Mimi, Queen of Memes, who blogs at Mimi Writes, tagged me to play along in the Memory Post Meme.

Here are the rules:

You must post five links to posts you have written.

Post your five links and then tag five other people. At least two of the people you tag must be newer acquaintances so that you get to know each other better . . . and don’t forget to read the archive posts and leave comments!

Link 1 must be about family:

One article about each of my parents:

The Long-Goodbye

Thirteen Reasons Why I Wish You Could Have Known My Father

Link 2 must be about friends:

Monday Candle Moment: Death Reunites Long-Time Friends

Link 3 must be about yourself, who you are, what you’re all about:

Thirteen Philosophies by Which I Try to Live My Life

Link 4 must be about something you love:

“I haven’t sung a note in years”

Link 5 can be anything you choose:

My Heart Belongs to Clint (Part One)

The folks I am tagging are:

Island Girl at An Island Life (Paradise Edition)
Karen at Write from Karen
Angel Mama at Pearls of Wisdom
Mert at Almost Somewhat Positive
Karen at Live the Power

EVERYONE is invited to participate. You do not have to be tagged! If you do, please link back to this post and let me know when you have published your post with the links to your five articles as I will update this article to include them, thereby providing a bunch of link love for everyone!

Thanks, Mimi, for thinking of me!

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The Long Good-Bye

May 13, 2007

This Week’s Prompt: Second Chance

This week’s prompt provides me a second chance to share this article with you. I offer it today in honor of Mother’s Day.

~~ This article is included in Local Girl’s Carnival of Family Life, Mother’s Day Edition, hosted by Be a Good Dad. Be sure to leave a comment letting the other participants know that you were referred via Colloquium! Thanks! ~~

Who have you had to say good-bye to? What kinds of good-byes?

My mother, Ethel, left this world on October 13, 2005, but she left her family long before that. She left us gradually, slowly inching further and further away until she finally retreated into her own little universe — a little corner of her own mind where we could no longer connect or interact with her. And eventually, I did something I never would have believed I could do: I wished that she would die.

For the last two years and three months of her life, my sister and I visited her every week. We always went together because having a companion made it a bit easier. We had each other to talk to about things as we sat at her bedside. Most of the time, though, we didn’t talk when it came time to leave. We would drive home in silence, both thinking and feeling the same things, none of which really needed to be verbalized because we had said everything there was to say on numerous previous occasions.

After every visit, I wished and prayed that it would be the last. Then I would feel guilty for wishing that, even though I knew that my mother was living out her worst nightmare on a daily basis and I was powerless to help her escape it. Thinking about it that way, I would reaffirm my hope for her death to come about, and so the cycle repeated itself over and over.

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