Tired eyes

Mama is home and feeling well.  I watched her go from a vital 90 year old woman, to an old woman and back to being herself again.  I saw the subtle changes that I’ve been missing.  The wrinkles around her neck.  The gentle non-controllable head shaking.  The skin that had a pale blue hue to it because it had become thin and the veins were showing through.

She bruises more now.  She needs a walker to balance her uneven gait.  She often sits and talks about things that happened fifty years ago as if it was today.  She forgets what day it is today.

I saw her eyes shine with joy when I entered her hospital room, and dull when I said it was time to go.  I heard the smile in her voice whenever she picked up the phone and realized it was one of the kids calling her.

I often tease her because no matter who she is talking to, she refers to me as Aunt Sherry, even though it may be brother she is talking to.

She has seen much and known and experienced more in her ninety years than anyone can imagine.  I try to imagine what it must have been like in her lifetime, as she talks.

She is a historian in her own right because she is a part of a forming history for our country.  She’s gone from horses to cars to airplanes to jets.  She looked at the moon as a youngster and heard of walking on the moon as an adult.

I recently had the pleasure of writing some of her stories, and I watched her cry as she read it.

Sometimes she forgets that I am her daughter, and she talks to me as if I am someone from her past.  There are times when she forgets my name, and times when she thinks I am a friend from school.

Writing the book, reminded me of the vibrant woman who once was young.  A young woman who fought hard, both against falling in love and keeping a love that would last even beyond death.

I admire my mother, and I am sharing my book with the world.

Go to Amazon.com and look for I’ll Be Seeing You     by Sherry Raby.  I hope you enjoy it, and I wish you the love that is still in my mother’s heart.