Mom.

While I didn’t live with my Mom growing up, on the weekends we visited her she taught me how to shoot pool, play electronic darts and love Tennessee Vols football. My husband is the only person I’ve ever met who could come CLOSE to knowing as much about sports as Mom does. She’s a die hard Cubs fan and cried with Dale Earnhardt died. She treats animals like they are family (just like me) and treats family like they are royalty. Most importantly – she was my shelter as my marriage crumbled beneath me years ago. I called her pissed, I called her crying. I called when I was scared to death – I called her when I felt FREE. When I miscarried in February, she was the one I wanted to talk to. She’s had her share of lost pregnancies and I knew she wouldnt mind me crying on her shoulder, over the phone.

In July 2002, Mom survived a intracranial aneurysm. It took:

• One ride in a JET to Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville
• 5 weeks in NICU
• One surgical coil embolization placing 14 titanium coils in the rupture in her brain
• One surgery attaching tubes to her cranium to drain CS fluid (both the coils and tubes are still in place today)
• 2 weeks in a rehab hospital
• 5 weeks recovery in my home

Here prognosis was so severe at times we were discussing full time nursing facilities. I remember at one point, I was in her room in ICU (during one of the FOUR times they allowed me to see her a day) and John Elway was on TV. I would talk to her, even though I didn’t know if she understood, and I said to my brother who was in the room “He never won a super-bowl did he?” (I KNOW that was wrong – I was tired, okay?) and Mom looked at me, breathing tube and all and violently shook her head to tell me I was WRONG. He HAD to won. I cried I was so happy. Not as much as when I brought MrZ to see her after she started improving , and I said “Look who I brought Mom – I brought MrZ” and she said “And We are Happy you did!”. Her recovery was miraculous.

All that and she is 110% now. She’s even still a non-smoker after TWO years!But the biggest hurdle she crossed? Was the recovery in my three-bedroom apartment living with me, my hubby, my son, my brother (who moved in with her to help her while we worked), my two dogs, my two cats, and her one dog. Yep – 4 adults, 1 child, 3 dogs, and 2 cats for 5 weeks after a near-death experience. Jeez – could we have put her through any MORE trauma if we had tried? But I loved every minute of it. I love her more than she’ll ever know. I thank the powers that be that gave me another chance with her and didn’t take her away from me that summer. I am lucky and I don’t EVER forget that. A lot of people don’t get second chances – and we did.

Happy Mothers Day Momma. I love you.