| Let me introduce my mom to you...her name was Thelma Nelle, but if you were smart you just called her Nelle or MeMa ...and she was the most precious woman in the world to me...you see we lost my mom on March 28, 2003, only 10 days before she would have turned 74. My mom started late in life with her family, she had me at 32 and my brother at 34, but in all the years that we had together I never remember her complaining about being old, she always said she was going to live to be 100 so she could get her birthday card signed by the president...but her poor body just couldn't hold out on her...like my dear sweet mother in law my mom died of cancer as well, it attacked her kidneys, but before they could find it, it moved into her bones, and from there it just spread...I spent the last several weeks with her in the hospital by her side, I'm not sure how much of the time she knew we were there, but even if it was only for a moment that she did, thats what counted...I know in my heart that she is now in a much better place, with no pain, no saddness, only laughter and love. As with any mother and daughter we did have our ups and downs, but she never ever stopped loving me...or any of us kids...I have a half brother that my mom helped raise, she never thought of him as anything other than her son...and his kids her grandkids...she was just that way...I remember when I told her I was going to get married, she just smiled and said she already knew it and that she couldn't have picked a better man if she had done it herself...her favorite thing to tell me was how much she loved having him as her son in law and that she never had a doubt that he would always take care of us...even when we moved away she still knew it...my greatest joy was giving her one final grandchild before she left us...as shocking as it was to everyone including myself, she was so thrilled, she said the only thing that ever saddened her about having him was that she was not here for his birth as she had been with our other kids, and she called daily to check on how he was doing while he was in the NICU...and continued to do so even after he came home...unlike all the other kids though he called her "Mum Mum"...leave it to him to be the different one...but that just made it more special for her...even when she was so sick in the hospital he would call her name and she would smile...even for a baby he knew how special she was to everyone...there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about her and miss her, as well as my dear sweet mother in law...the two of them made our lives whole, yes we move on, but with a deep sorrow and a hole in our hearts for our loss...but we will forever have their love and spirit with us until we see them again...sleep peacefully our sweet angels......"MOM I LOVE YOU!"... |
