May 5, 2009 Dear Family, I have no idea how many of you check in here to read or see if there are any updates ... but I guess that matters little. It's become a personal issue with me. Tomorrow would have been my mother's 99th birthday. I have no doubt that had she not fallen and received such a devastating injury she would be ignoring everyone's attempt to celebrate her birthday. My mother loved to make chocolate cakes. When each of my birthday's rolled around she would invariably send me a letter to say that she and Dad enjoyed my chocolate birthday cake. She made them from scratch too. Measuring cups, mixers, flour, baking soda, sugar, eggs and some sort of chocolate concoction. I never did get the recipe. The frosting was chocolate fudge. And that cake would melt in your mouth! Now Mother could eat half a cake and never gain a pound and that because she mowed a couple of acres of lawn and did all sorts of yard activities. She also said hundreds and maybe thousands of Rosaries. Because as she was walking behind the self-propelled mower ... she was saying a Rosary or two or five or fifty. I do know that Mother's belief in prayer was limitless. When little Mary was in Arkansas one of her heart valves quit on her. I went to Arkansas to be there prior to her surgery and after. Mary's heart sounded like a washing machine stuck on the wash cycle. Something had to be done. I kept Mother apprised of Mary's condition. The surgery went well. The "porcine" valve worked but I do recall telling Mother it was a "bovine" heart valve. We'd just had too many pigs that Mother was less than fond of. My time was up for my visit with Mary. I had to get back to work in Indianapolis. When I arrived in Mary's room to say good-bye, I hardly recognized her. She was horribly swollen ... looked a lot like Jabba the Hutt. The doctor told me her kidneys failed and in cases of this nature there was little chance of survival. I called Mother enroute home. She was stunned at the news and said she would pray for Mary. And I agreed. Mary's future was for sure in God's hands. I didn't know Mother had a life-line ... Long story short. Mary was on digitalis for about seven months and then quite miraculously her kidneys began functioning again. So ... if mowing the lawn isn't something you do regularily, well then maybe just pray the Rosary. And tomorrow, I'm having a Chocolate Cake. I love you Mom and I miss you. Happy 99th Birthday. Kathy |
Updated: 02-20-2021 |