Posted by David on March 25, 2002 at 11:50:24:
I was visited with a memory. My mother passed away six short months prior to my wife, Linda. Both deaths tested my faith and will to live. The love of my wife and faith demonstrated by my mother lifted me up when all seemed lost. I still grieve over the loss of my soulmate. I am just now sensing the loss of Mom. Their presence, their presents, will sustain me in this desert of dispair, this valley of death's shadow.
I am given hope in the form of these memories... manna from above to feed my soul.
My mother knew her death was inevitable. She had emphazema and uteran cancer. As her last days came, she slipped into a coma.My sister, who lived out of town, was called. We feared the end was near. My sister raced from the airport after her arrival and stood at Mom's right side, holding her hand. Both mother and daughter labored for breath; My sister from the running, Mom from the disease that stole her breath from her.
Mom had requested that "Amazing Grace" be sung at her funeral. This request was unknown to my sister. As she stood next to Mom, she began to sing that song. The whole family joined in. I was transported to my childhood, standing next to Dad and Mom and my sisters and brothers singing in church. Our voices were as then, an entwined harmony not found in the hymnal... a unique blend of young and old.
My mother's eyes fluttered open to hear and join in with the family, now fully joined, complete. She did not have to wait until her death to hear the song she loved. She listened with earthly ears and her voice was added.
Funny thing... quite odd.
My mother had lost her hearing as a child. Although aided by an aid, the most she could distinguish was the most muted, elementary of sounds. Her excellent ability to read lips hid her disability. Her ability also was the bain of us children. We would forget and whisper to each other or friends... she heard loud and clear.
Mom was not wearing her hearing aid as she lay in this bed of her dying. Her coma was profound, loss of consciousness and loss of sound. Yet she heard the music.
God graced us with a reunion.
I remember this when I think that I am alone. I think of it when someone says that miracles donot happen.
And I smile.
Mom visits me in the memory and touches me in the present.