5/29/2010 The Thing She Saw Before She Died

*Shuffles in stooped over holding back*
Ugh, Mr. Blog.
I hurt myself.
Climbed up in the giant recycle thing
and was holding the stair railing and jumping
up and down and felt my lower back go pop.
Mabel called at ten and said it was too cold
to go down to Acacia to visit all our dead relatives.
So I decided to work on the basement some more
and I was making good headway until I saw
the thing she saw before she died.
Oh Mr. Blog!
It was awful.
I made it myself for her wall in the nursing home.
I forgot all about it.
Every time sissy and I found mom a better place
I would carefully wrap it up.
It was a two by three foot piece of pink construction paper
and I had taped pictures of all our family trips
with her and Lyle
and me and Terry and the kids
all over it.
I had pictures of when I took the kids
to Disneyland with Strawberry on it.
I had taken red marking pens and drawn what
looked like conversation hearts all around the edges
with things like, "Be Sweet" and "I Love You"
inside them.
Ugh Mr Blog.
It was awful.
So when mummy was in hospice care up in
Maywood Hills, I put it on the wall of the
yellow death room in the basement.
I went that morning and
she was all doped up on morphine.
She looked pretty of all things.
Her eyes opened and she feebly raised her
arms.
I lay my head on her chest and said,
"I love you mummy."
And she said,
"I love you baby."
She patted my head and drifted off.
The lady called around two o'clock
and said she was gone.
Died in her sleep.