1/1/2015
My mom, Susan Marie Timmel DuMond, nagged me for years to lie about my age.
"Your grandmother lied about her age, I lie about my age. You need to start lying about your age," she said.
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| Susan DuMond |
"But, I don’t want to lie about my age, Mom."
"You’re making the rest of us look bad if you don’t lie about your age."
"Yeah, whatever," I grumbled and continued not lying about my age.
I sold my house late 2012, and was able to go home to see Mom more frequently in 2013. We celebrated her 85th birthday in June, 2013.
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| Mom's birthday party 2013 |
After a ‘medical incident’ that happened in the fall, we moved Mom to Our House Assisted Living in November, 2013. She was no longer safe living on her own.
I grabbed an airplane ticket to visit her in late February. I talked to her on Saturday, Feb. 15th — we were both looking forward spending time together. She died the next day, unexpectedly, Feb. 16th, 2014.
To say it was a whirlwind of immense suckiness is a gigantic understatement.
New Years Eve, 2014 I decided I needed to get my refund from Southwest Air before enough time passed, and I lost the money.
So I filled out the paperwork, the flights, the cancellation number, the tracking number for correspondence with Southwest, etc., etc., made a copy of her death certificate, attached it, read it and just —
PAUSED.
Her death certificate said she was 86-years-old at time of death.
No. She was 85-years-old.
Then I did the math.
Mom actually WAS 86 + years-old when she died.
I thought she was 85 because…
She had lied to me about her age…
In a strange way, I felt like she got an extra year. And maybe if she did — maybe I got an extra year with her too.
God bless you, Mom. You had the last laugh, after all.
I love you, I miss you and you will always be…
xo,
Pam
P.S. I still don’t lie about my age. I just don’t talk about it.
Awww. That's both funny and tear-worthy. Thank you for sharing that wonderful story. It sounds like she really did get the last laugh. Stuff like this never cease to amaze me. The strange little things our parents do, which we can't always relate to, but still puts a smile on our face.
ReplyDeleteOne time, my husband and I got home after doing some major grocery shopping and when we opened the door to unload the car, we heard some horrible moaning noises. I raced down the hall to my mother's bedroom thinking something was wrong, but her door was ajar and I could see inside that she was okay. She was just singing. Rather loudly. Out of key.
She couldn't hear herself because she had on these ridiculous, humongous headphones my brother had gotten her so she could listen to her gospel music without bothering everyone else in the house.
I ran back to the kitchen trying not to laugh to find my husband looking at me horrified. He was like, "Is that your mom singing?" I was like, "Yup! What can you do." She was enjoying the heck out of herself, completely caught up in song. I wasn't about to stop her. So my husband and I spent the next 30 minutes unloading and unpacking the groceries while listening to my mother wail from the other room. We we're laughing SO hard, our eyes were watering because she sounded THAT bad.
I thought she didn't even know we were home, but when I went to go check on her, this time opening her door, she cracked open one eyelid, gave me a little wave and then went back to wailing. lol
Christine!
DeleteThose memories are priceless. I think those keep us going when we miss our moms so much. They put a little smile on our faces. We were so lucky/blessed to have had great moms.
Thanks for sharing.
xo