|
I have always read blurbs here and there (you know, magazine articles in the doctor's office) that mothers and daughters can often have strained relationships. As for me and my mother, she never liked me and I never liked her. But, being mother and daughter, you always love each other. So, in the last five years or so, I got in the habit of calling her in Mississippi two or three times a week early in the morning and talking about nothing in particular about an hour or so. She was a widow, shy and didn't have any friends anymore and mostly cooked for my sister and her husband once a week and took care of her house and her two dogs.
In January last year, she had some health problems come up and one thing led to another and she was diagnosed with stage IV liver cancer and died April 9th. It was really a shock because we didn't have a clue that she was sick. But you know what? At one point after she died, I was reflecting on that time that I spent talking to her so frequently in recent years and I realized that I still do not have any idea who she was as a person.
I suppose it was enough to put aside whatever resentments I may have held and make the effort to form some kind of relationship with her. I am glad I decided to do that.
__________________
 Vickie
|