So this was a morning it was hard to sleep in. I remember it like it was yesterday, but five years ago on this very morning I got the call about dad. Although I'd left Walla Walla just hours before he passed away, it was very hard to know his time had come. I remember questioning if I would drive back to Walla Walla or not - it wasn't that I didn't want to be there, but I'd been on the road a lot in the last two weeks coming and going and my body was exhausted! You see, we also took turns staying up all night with him while he was in his last days. It was emotionally draining but also physically draining - we wouldn't have done it any differently though. We wanted to be with him!
So Jenice called me like at 4:30 that morning - as soon as the phone rang, we knew! Jim got it first and then I took the receiver - the call I dreaded! I couldn't just jump in the car and head back - although I couldn't sleep anymore either. I waited a few hours and then drove myself back to Walla Walla - to the home where mom and dad lived. I'll never forget walking in - not knowing what to do, where to go, what to say! It was sooooo hard! I cried! I cried and cried more! Then I guess everyone else had kinda gotten over the crying and then to see me, they all started in again. I gave mom a hug - it was going to be hard on her - we all knew! I do remember going into dad's bathroom and before I came out, I had one of the gold dollars of his in my hand - I said, "I'm going to take this!" I wanted it because dad's hands had been on it - silly isn't it, but that was the way I was feeling. If dad had touched it, then if I had it, it would mean something more to me. Oh, the emotions that ran that day!!!!
Five years have passed - an eternity in some ways, a quick second in others! Now it's been almost 4 months since mom passed away - the day she joined dad and was reunited with him - joyous for her, heartbreak for us! When I was down to Walla Walla on March 18th of this year with Litney mom gave me Jim's birthday gift:) She was always so "ahead of time" in everything she did! She would laugh about it at times and say things like, "well, I might not be here and want to make sure he gets it" - never would I have been imagined on that Friday it would be the last box I'd get from her. You see, Jim's birthday is the day dad passed away. I remember placing that box on the top of my tall dresser in the bedroom - it was the same place I put each birthday gift mom gave me early -
Today I will give that gift - the very same gift mom has given Jim for 27 years - a shirt within that box and then I'm wondering - "should I just put that last box back on my dresser?" It would be empty, but also filled with so much love & memories. Can I just throw it away? No, I don't think I can - so for now it will sit on my dresser, collect some dust along the way and again be another reminder of how much mom loved her kids! Sad to know though that it is the Last Box!
Blessings to Jim on this day, to Dad for 5 years and to Mom!!
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