Today marks 2 years since my mother’s death. She was 78 years of age.
In December of 2013, she was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer, which had already spread to the bones of her spine, as well as her liver, lungs, and lymphatic system. She went into the hospital complaining of back pain in mid-December. Surgery was performed on her spine in early January, to insert a titanium ladder for support, followed by 5 days of localized radiation treatments. She returned to her home a short time later and began chemotherapy treatments in pill form.
Allow me to digress for a moment, earlier that year, I had moved on from a professional corporate career, spanning 2 decades, and on Christmas Eve, 2013, was returning from a 3-month trip to Europe. As I was walking through the airport, I received a text from my sister, informing me Mom was in hospital and had been there 2 weeks, but would not allow my siblings to notify me, out of concern that I would cut my trip short. DUH!
Anyway, she was readmitted to hospital in late February, at which time, the doctor informed her she could no longer live alone, so we moved her directly from hospital into my home. She lived with me until she died in March of 2015, after numerous rounds of subsequent treatment and severely deteriorating health.
Shortly after her death, a dear friend made a statement to me that would begin a 2-year period of self-examination – she referred to me as a caregiver. This was foreign to me, as I had never thought of myself in that context before. You see, I also raised my son on my own, since he was 8-months old, he’s now an adult with a family of his own. However, in both instances, I simply felt blessed to be a mother and a daughter.
So, two years ago, today, I awoke an orphan and since my son had married 4 months prior to that, I was no longer an on-duty mother either.
What on earth was I going to do with myself? What was my purpose? What would I do as a career? Who was I going to take care of? Ahah! Interesting.
Of course the most obvious answer: I’m going to take care of myself! The answers to the remaining questions have arrived slowly and intermittently over the last two years. I’ve explored different options, lived in different cities and met different characters along the way.
Put simply: my purpose is to give and receive love!
And this blog is the catalyst to do just that.
STAY TUNED MY LOVELIES!