Other than a post or two I have been pretty quiet the last three months. My mother passed away in February 2015. Up until then I was making trips with my brother to see her. I was with my brothers and dad when she left this world and I dearly miss her. I’d like to take this space and write about my mom.
My moms name was Carol. She died a week after her 71st birthday. She was married to my dad for 21 years until they divorced. She raised four boys, all of us have turned out well. She was single for seven years until she meet the love of her life, Norm. This April would have been their 22nd anniversary. Mom and Norm loved to travel. Their plans for retirement was to travel as much as possible.
But mom got sick. She was a smoker for at least 40 years. She told us that she had gotten sick and that sickness resulted in her lungs being scarred. From that point on she was on oxygen and slowly went downhill over the last 5 or 6 years.
I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to write, I just wanted to get my thoughts out. Moms favorite animal was the fox. Her favorite color if I remember correctly was purple. She had blue eyes. She was very good at math. It seemed like she could spot a four-leaf clover at 50 yards.
She was a great mother.
After she died my two brothers and I went back to the house with Norm. He was going through her stuff on the couch and found a manila envelope filled with smaller envelopes. There was an envelope for each of us kids. The handwriting was still good so I knew they had written before she got too sick. Norm said she had written the 3 or 4 years back and knew she wasn’t going to get any better.
I haven’t opened mine. I’ve decided to wait until after I moved to read it. Both mom and Norm loved the Black Hills area. It’s where they went on their honeymoon and where they both will have their ashes spread. I’m moving to the area in less than two months so I have decided to read her letter when I hike up Bear Butte this summer. She loved the area, so it seems the perfect place to read her letter.