Our Lives Will Never Be The Same

My Mother, LaVerne, passed away tonight. Christy, Mom's Hospice nurse came by this afternoon and told me then that her passing would be only a matter of hours. I called my brother, Gerry, to let him know and not an hour later, he and his wife arrived at the house to sit with us. He didn't want me to be alone when it happened and wasn't sure who was with me. I can't tell you how much that meant to me! My family is so awesome!

My cousin, Rhonda, and I had exchanged a couple of emails this afternoon about how surprised we were that Mother was still with us and I wanted to share this one I received from Rhonda before Mother passed away this evening:

"I too am so amazed that she continues to hang on. I was thinking this morning about how truly blessed I am/we are to have been born into such a strong Christian family. Grandma, Aunt Laverne, Mama, Aunt Flora have been so faithful and so exemplary of what real "women of faith" are all about. I can't tell you the number of times I've asked the Lord, "Why did you pick me to be so blessed as to be born into this family?" And . . . I continue to thank him each and every day for it. I only wish I could be such an example.
Sunday at church Johnny said (to the congregation), "We need to remember Laverne in our prayers -she is a true woman of God who has taught so many children and adults God's word. She has probably taught most everyone in this congregation."I thought, man, what an awesome woman . . . and an oh-so-true and accurate description."

I know how wonderful my Mother is and it's good to know that other people saw her love of God and her faith in her daily life! She has touched many lives and I'm so thankful to have been able to share her with the Lord. I pray that my faith is as visible to others as hers was to so many!

When she passed, I called Hospice and Carrie, the on-call nurse came out. She then made the phone calls necessary to the funeral home and to the doctor, relieving us of that responsibility. She and I made sure Mom was ready to go and then Carrie went about taking care of other necessary tasks such as counting her meds and disposing of them, as well as answering any questions we had about how things would happen now that she had passed.

The funeral director came out about an hour and a half later and then it was another half hour or so before the van arrived to take Mother to the funeral home. We were able to go in and see her one last time before they took her away. It was hard when they took her from the house. She has been living with us for the past six months, leaving the house only twice during that time! After they left, I went to her bedroom to see if there was anything that I needed to take care of before morning and found that someone - I believe it was probably Carrie - had made her bed with a beautiful quilt I had in her room and had taken from the wall the picture of her and my Dad and laid it on the pillow! The compassion shown by that action took my breath away!

My sister, Kathy and her daughter had arrived at the house just minutes after Mom passed. Kathy took her daughter home and then she and her husband came back and stayed until Mother was taken. It made things easier having loved ones around while everything was taking place. We - my brothers, sisters and spouses are meeting for breakfast together in the morning and then going to the funeral home to finish all the preparations. Unfortunately, my oldest brother lives in Texas and will not be here until Sunday. He came up Wednesday evening to see Mother, but had to go back Thursday morning to clear up some business before he and his wife could come back this weekend.

Mother had a pre-arranged plan and she also was very active in planning her own funeral service, so we didn't have a lot of thinking that had to be done! Mother always showed us how much she loved us - her children - and her planning everything was just another demonstration of that love! She wanted to make things as easy for us as possible and we intend to carry out her wishes as a demonstration of our deep love and respect for her.

Our lives will never be the same after tonight. They changed twelve years ago when my Dad died and losing my Mom is every bit as difficult. Both my parents were Christians and knowing that they will be together again for eternity in Heaven is a huge comfort! They left us with memories of a loving home and our "safe place to fall". Nothing can ever take away from the life they gave us and the memories that are ours forever!