Rainy Days and Mondays

Events as they transpired yesterday reminded me of the old Carpenter's song 'Rainy Days and Mondays".  When last we spoke, I was going to head out to the hospital to sit with my Mother while waiting for the Care Conference with the Medical Staff.  Before I could gather my things and get out the door, life interfered with my plans once again.  Just after I hit the 'publish' button in the post editor, Will came inside and said come quick, my neighbor was being assaulted.  Sure enough, there was a crazy man attacking my neighbor.  When I arrived on the scene, the crazy guy was trying to choke my neighbor with a baseball bat.  One of my other neighbors wrestled the bat from the crazy guy and handed it to me as I called 911.  After binding my neighbors wounds and dealing with the police, it was just past 1 PM, which meant I was pressed for time.  I jumped in the shower, got dressed, gathered my things and rushed out the door to go see my Mother.  

Upon arriving at the CICU, I found my Mother surrounded by my older brother, my niece and my Mother's hairdresser of 45 years (with whom I had graduated from high school).  I placed a call to my Mother's best friend of 60 years to tell her Mother was not going to last much longer.  Her son (who I had babysat as a child) brought her up to see Mother, my younger brother arrived and so we were all there when the Medical Staff came into Mother's room for the Conference.  Unfortunately, there was no good news.  In fact, Mother's condition had steadily deteriorated to the point where there was nothing else the Staff could do except keep the body alive.  We all agreed that everything that could be done had been done and now the decision had to be made.  we collectively decided that yes, enough was enough and we should let Mother go to her peace.  

After the staff had removed all the life support and given her some medicine to ease the pain, my brothers, my niece and I gathered around my Mothers.  My older brother read Mother's favorite Bible passage, the 23rd Psalm, the Chaplain prayed and then we all stood around her.  We each got to say our good byes, however Mother never regained consciousness but somehow I knew that she heard us.  At 4:38, Mother took her last breath and her heart stopped.  She was gone.  

My niece, who is an pediatric oncology nurse and is really a lot more experienced at the processes of dealing with death of a loved one, called the funeral home and arranged for Mother to be picked up and prepared for the funeral.  We will probably have a meeting today out there to discuss arrangements, and I will post those when I know them.  There seems to be a million things to do, but all I really want to do is curl up in a ball and cry.  

As incredibly difficult as our relationship was over the years, my Mother always loved me and I her.  The last few years we had done a lot to repair our  relationship that while not perfect was so much better than it had been for many years.  I would rather remember all the beautiful things about my Mother rather than our difficulties.  My Mother was a remarkable woman who left her mark on the world and was loved by a great many people.  I will miss her and will cherish the beautiful memories and let the not so happy times go.  May she rest in peace.  

As I left the hospital and walked to the car,  it started raining which masked my tears.  It was both a Rainy Day and a Monday.  However I will try not to let it get me down.  I was comforted by several people yesterday.  I want to say a special thank you to my friend J who was a great source of comfort who went above and beyond to be with me yesterday and ease my pain.  I am not sure I am ready to deal with it all, but I will do what I must to insure that in mourning her passing, we celebrate her life and the beautiful things she did for others.  Please carry my family and I in your thoughts as we get through all of this.  

I thought a great deal about the Music for today, and in the end, I decided on  Chopin for today's Musical Moment.  Vladimir Ashkenazy recorded the complete works of Chopin on 13 CD's, today's selection is CD#6 which  has 7 polonaises including No.1 in C sharp minor, Op.26 No.1; No.2 in E flat minor, Op.26 No.2; No.3 in A, Op.40 No.1 'Military'; No.4 in C minor, Op.40 No.2; No.5 in F sharp minor, Op.44; No.6 in A flat, Op.53 'Heroic' and No.7 in A flat, Op.61 'Polonaise-Fantasie'.  You may also hear 4 Ballades by Chopin over on my tumblr.  

I also thought long and hard about whether to post any eye candy today.  I decided to go ahead and post some, as beauty in all forms can be comforting in times of grief.  So I gathered some perfect Tuesday's Temptations on display below the play list for your visual appreciation.   You may also find the Hottie of the Day! to be tremendously tempting over on my tumblr.  Thank you for reading, see you again soon.  Until next time as always, Enjoy!