Saying Goodbye to my Mom

My Mom at her 80th birthday lunch two years ago.

 A couple of weeks ago I sent an e-mail blast out to many of our friends, partners and discover alumni about my (Shevawn's) mother's declining health and my unplanned trip to Arizona.  I was truly blown away by all the emails and texts that began pouring in immediately after I did that; the encouraging words and good advice they contained meant so much to me.  Equally amazing was how I noticed my stress levels lessening as I continued to pack; it has been awhile since I have so deeply felt the fruit of others peoples prayers for me.   It was incredibly wonderful and reassuring; I was and continue to be so thankful to the Lord and to so many who prayed and wrote.

   Yesterday (Wednesday July 1st)  I returned home from Tucson; although I was only there 10 days it feels like it was much, much longer than that.  My sister Kelley and I arrived safely on Sunday June 28th and spent most of the next 24 hours with the rest of my family making the decisions and then the arrangements to move my mother out of the hospital and back home into hospice.   Her body continued to give out very quickly; by Friday morning she was gone.   I remained in Tucson an additional few days in order to help and support my mom's wonderful husband Wayne and my other sister Allison, who lives in Tucson and was exhausted from the several weeks leading up to my mother's passing.

   I experienced so many answers to prayers....the ones I asked you to pray for and many others that I didn't know to ask for.  My mother was communicative during the first several days I was there, and although she was weak she managed to joke with us and us with her. She expressed several times her thanks and gratefulness for how the four of us worked as a team to get her out of the hospital, which was her greatest desire at that point.  Trying to figure out how to connect with the services we needed for Hospice felt incredibly confusing and overwhelming to all of us on Sunday evening..until Allison suddenly remembered that her friend/workout instructor was an administrator at Heartland Hospice a truly amazing organization of whose praises I cannot sing loudly enough.  I cannot imagine how we would have been able to help my mom throughout her final days without the good people at Heartland: (a special shout out to Nurse Lena; you ROCK!)

   My mom didn't want a memorial service...so before I left Wayne, Allison and I went to one of her favorite places to eat.  We reminisced over dinner and at the end of the meal we split a Red Velvet Cupcake in her honor.  And now...life goes on.  This introvert intends to spend the next week or so quietly on her own as I recover physically and emotionally from all that has transpired.  I welcome your continued prayer support during this time; for myself and my sisters but most especially for Wayne who is adjusting to being alone in a too quiet house.  Most of their neighbors have gone back east for the summer so even the neighborhood feels empty.  Leaving him alone was such a hard thing to do.