Thehours, I can't even begin to tell you how much your post meant to me. In all of my grief, I never once sat down and just thought to myself, "Look how much my mom loved me." I am sitting here now, at this very minute, able to count all of the times where she loved myelf, and my siblings so much, and her act of courage so brave to hang on, even when she knew she couldn't anymore.

Her asking permission, never came to me until after she passed away. I was going through her things one night, and that specific conversation came to my mind. I think at that moment in her life, she needed permission to let go. She was so focused on being there for my brother - his son was due in May, and she wanted to be there to see my daughter graduate from preschool, that she was overwhelmed with taking care of us and fighting her disease. Not in a bad way - but she just looked up at me, so tired, so weak and so... desperate for help, that she just said, 'I can't do this anymore, can I?' In only a matter of weeks, she did finally let go and she finally got her peace. And you know, sitting here analyzing this, has given me so much peace and state of mind. Thank you, so very much. It's so refreshing to be able to know that she is no longer in pain, no longer hurting and no longer having to "fight". And boy, did she fight. She fought for 18 months. So many hospitals, and like you, my mom was in them so much that... visiting just seemed like, another day. 'My mom is in the hospital again' kind of thing. But you know..... if I had known, I guess, that she wouldn't come home and spend another 10 years with us... I probably would do it all differently, and sit there and spend time with her, and ask her questions, and write down the answers, and keep a memory book of all of things I would want to know about her. Time really is a funny thing.