New To This (Continued)

At this point in my mom's life we realized now is the time to vacaton and travel to all the places she wanted to go. Over the next 2 years we did just that. A funny conversation I remember is begging her to allow me to shave my legs. She told me I could when I started 6th grade. Towards the end of my 5th grade year I was informed this would probably be the last summer she would be around. As devastating as that may sound, it didn't stop us. She lost a lot of weight and height that summer and I began to notice just how sick she really was. The first day of 6th grade started and I got to (finally) shave my legs. As silly as that may sound it was a highlight in my life. The second week of school started, so it was a Monday, and it was about half way through the day when I got a call from the office saying I had been checked out along with my best friend (at that point I considered my sister) and my Dad was waiting for us outside. I could tell by the sad smile on his face it was almost time. As we got home some of my immediate family had came in from North Carolina. At this point my mom had been home for a few weeks because she knew she wanted to pass away with the people she loved in the home she had created. Around 6 that evening our preacher came and said a sweet prayer, not to try and keep her around, but to bless her passing. I forgot to mention that this second go around with cancer was way more severe than the first. It was practically spread throughout all of her vital organs. I remember laying there beside her slowly listening to her lungs fill up with fluid. She finally passed and all I could think about was not getting to actually here her say goodbye because that day when I left for school she was already unable to speak. Sometimes that sheer memory tears me up more the whole idea of her being dead.