...During the last minute of her life she looked at me with clarity in her eyes for the first time in three years. I know she knew me. She recognized my military uniform too. She smiled. Then she raised her head from her pillow and with all of the physical power left in her body she blew her final breath into my nostrils. She rested her head and closed her eyes.
"Mama", I said. "Mama! She's gone!" I cried. As I wept, I told her, "I'll see you soon".
Mother, you're in heaven
And soon I will be there.
I'll see your smiling face again
And hear that happy belly laugh.
You and daddy are waiting for me
While you're seated at the foot of the throne.
Your legacy of evangelism
Still lives on.
As I held her in my arms, I heard sniffles behind me. I was not aware of the presence of the nurses and doctors at the foot of the bed who had been crying. They knew it was a difficult decision for me to pull the plug.
I ask them, "Did you see her pass the blessing on to me - her second child of four? Oh how I wish the others were here." I removed her Bible from her bedstand and left to make memorial arrangements.
When I drove away from the Mental Hospital, it was the most difficult drive I ever had to make.
As a registered nurse I have seen your pain. As a daughter I have felt the same. It's hard to let go, but I know they are always in our hearts forever. They really never leave us alone. It's been over 15 years and I still talk about mama as if she were still alive.
Thanks for sharing your beautiful work.
This one reminds me so much of me when my Daddy was in the hospital. He was struggling to sit up to come closer toward me, when I told him "I love you Daddy!...and I know you love me too!". I watched as he opened his almost dried-up eyes to see me, and I knew he saw me there to really tell him that I understand he loves me too. You can read about my Daddy while he was in the hospital in my poem "Daddy". My true feelings are all written in there into those poems.
Oh Louisa, this one brought back so much memories for me!!!! A thought-provoking heartfelt piece indeed!!!!
Robert Burns' first daughter was Elizabeth. Her story and the five descendants Scottish lives are recorded here with the Bard's message today as ever in need. Al Quida listen: Then let us pray that come it may, As come it will for a' that. That Sense
This book has been eight years in the making. It is mostly a jumble of thoughts written down in old spiral notebooks and hidden in the bottom drawer underneath various manuals for software packages and hardware long since turned obsolete.
My memories as an immigrant professional woman in Ottawa, Canada 47 years ago. A new life after having survived the liberal war of a new country Bangladesh on December 16, 1971.
