In Memoriam

My mother died Sunday evening about 10 pm in Emmett, Idaho. She was 83. She has not been well for a few years. It all began the July she and I drove to Colorado to visit with another sister and brother. Everything was fine until the 4th of July and she began feeling worse and worse and wanted to go home....so we drove home and she decided that she couldn't fly or drive to any high altitude spots anymore. The next year she more or less gave up driving her Bravada and eventually talked me into purchasing it from her in exchange for an electric scooter. She liked the scooter. Then she had a pacemaker put in and I forget the exact sequence but she wound up on
oxygen and then hired hospice and fired hospice and rehired hospice.

When you have known both of your parent all of your life it is difficult to treat them as separate beings. One of the best memories as a family was the partial year we lived in Riggins, Idaho. Dad was there for a job of course and we lived on a small tributary to the River of No Return. There was no TV reception only radio and we pretty much made our own entertainment. We played card games in particular one called Snertz. It involved two decks of cards and four people manipulating the cards onto the table like Solitaire only FASTER, first one to play the last discard yelled, "Snertz!". I took my sisters to Summer Bible Class, Mom reminded me that the Bible School teacher thought the girls were my children. I was 14 or 15, boy they start 'em young up there!

She was cranky, opinionated, and raised seven children while dad brought home the bacon and then she cooked it, cleaned house, kept us fed and clothed and schooled. Most of my early memories exist only on old faded snapshots of Richard and I small enough to huddle inside milk buckets or clomp around wearing huge cowboy boots and a cowboy hat.

Other memories involve scrabble games, pinochle games, joking around and generally having a good time. Every time Mom and I would go someplace I would solemnly remind her that we were having an adventure today and we might not necessarily have fun, it was an ADVENTURE!

Have to try to get some sleep, don't know if I will be driving home tomorrow or not, depends on what the brother and sister group consensus will be regarding a service.

Got to the light, Virginia.