When it comes to writing our blog I have been
seriously slacking. I started the year
with a plan to write a list blog each month.
Well I made a list in January, February and March. I swear I don’t know what happened in
April. Ronnie was the sale chairman for
the Florida Angus Association sale and that kept us really busy. The sale was April 28th so I am
going to blame the lack of an April blog on that.
May is the month our lives really changed to
help you understand why I will need to provide some history. We moved my Mother out to the farm eight
years ago, her vision was failing due to macular degeneration, and the doctor
said it was only a matter of time before she would not be able to see well
enough to drive. The move to the farm
was a difficult one for her giving up the home she and my dad had built together
over 40 years ago. Our first idea was to
build on to our house, but Mom would not hear of it, she said she I am 83 years
old and won’t be here much longer and I don’t want you to have all that house
to take care of when I am gone. Our next
idea was a mobile home, when I mentioned that to her she said she was going to
be in a box soon enough and she didn’t want to start now. I asked her when was the last time you looked
at mobile homes she said oh maybe 50 years or so. I was finally able to convince her to look at
mobile homes; she was amazed at how much they had changed in just 50
years! She found a home she just loved
and she agreed to the move to the country.
We carved a spot out of one of the cow pastures and she got such a kick
out of telling her friends that we had put her out to pasture. When folks would say oh no not really she
would chuckle and say I mean literally I am in the middle of a cow pasture I
have cows on three sides of me! I have
to tell you moving Mom out to the farm were one of the most stressful times of
my life, I was so afraid that she wasn’t going to be happy and she would regret
the move. One of my fondness memories
was the day that she told me she only had one regret about moving to the farm,
and that was that she had not done it sooner.
Well back to May, the doctor had been correct mother’s eyesight did get
much worse she lost the ability to drive within six months of moving to the farm. The family managed to get her to doctor’s appointments
and her social activities for the next four and a half years. Unfortunately not only her eyesight but her
overall health was failing and she was no longer able to be by herself that was
when our sweet angel Tammy came into the family. Tammy was her companion and caregiver for the
last four years. The 4th day
of May Tammy had a stroke, we thank God that she is recovering but complete
recovery will take time. Three weeks
after Tammy’s stroke Mother was admitted to the hospital and passed away on
June 18th. Needless to say
May and June were not good months for us here at Gizmo , I have almost made it
through the month of July and really don’t know how. Mother was such a hoot, she always had a
smile. She raised us to have a deep
faith her favorite saying was “God won’t bring you to it without getting you
through it” so I know that God will get us through this very sad time in our
lives. As I have said mother lost her
ability to read some years ago but she always had me read my latest blog to
her, I think that is one of the main reasons I haven’t been able to get this
chore done. I guess I don’t have to read
it to her anymore where she is her vision is 20/20!
