Since I’m from Blacksburg and my mom still lives there I try to get home to see her about once a week sometimes every other week but rarely does more time than that pass before I visit.. she has been such and inspiration and support for me my whole life I hope that I am able to in some small way return the favor from time to time…

From my home it is an hour and a half to my mom’s place… but Roanoke is right in the middle.. so usually I just pack work clothes for the next day.. go to my mom’s house when I get off from work and then spend the morning with my mom before heading to work in the afternoon… it works well for both of us but the time we spend together always goes by so fast…

Usually the morning starts off with coffee and a bagel either at her apartment or out somewhere and then.. I like to help mom get errands taken care of that she might need some help with… and along the way there are usually a lot of laughes and giggles… just silly stuff that only we would find funny… a lot of times we will laugh about something her mom used to say or do… because we both miss her so..

Some of you know she passed away after a very long battle with Alzheimer’s… but before the dementia set in she was the greatest woman we have ever known… they simply don’t make them like her anymore.. if someone said something rude or nasty or got impatient with her.. as a young girl.. I would say something like… “I don’t like that person for being mean.” 

She would smile and say, “Karen, I love all people… some of them.. well.. I just don’t like their ways.”  I can hear her sweet voice saying those words as if I was ten years old sitting in her cozy living room yesterday… and I strive to be more like her… knowing I will never be as good…

At one point this morning Mom said to me, “Karen, I don’t ever want you to think that you *have* to come see me…”  without a moment of hesitation I said, “Mom, I come visit because I love you and like spending time with you…”  She laughed a little and said well.. “That makes me feel good..”

I know my mom misses her mom.. and there are a lot of people who miss their mothers or wish they had a better relationship with their mom… that is why when some people ask me why I go to Blacksburg so much my response is easy… because I can.. and because I love spending time with my mom… and I know that there will likely come a day when I don’t get to… and that is sad… the way she and I are sad that we don’t get to visit with her mom anymore…

But, my mom is very rational and when Luckie dog passed away.. she put death in perspective for me… after she talked about what a good life he had and how much he would be missed she had a quivering voice… I could hear her holding back the tears… she said in compassionate way… “Well… I guess we are all gonna go sometime…”

Guess so… so when I am rushing around and so busy and trying to do so much that I forget my dinner, blazer and other things…and don’t realize it until I get to work… or when I say something or write something that upsets someone when I never intended that to be the case…  I try to take a moment.. a deep breath… a quick inventory of the blessings in my life.. and the peace that I feel.. even if it is fleeting.. can’t be broken… amazing…