Parece que siempre estoy pidiendo perdón…so sorry guys – At the moment of my last post, my muse – my best-friend-the love of my life and the captain of my team: my mother -really needed me. Por meses, no me pude enfocar en nada más que en ella. The pattern was: work & then home to Má and later on: work and the hospital to see Má.
As I was saying before: cuando somos niños no nos damos cuenta lo bello que es tener una madre a nuestro lado. As a child, there was no way I could grasp the blessing it was to have a mother that showed us (Oscar, Carmen & me) discipline and unconditional love; and then as an adult: a mother that became my best girl-friend, my guide & my confidant. I simply didn’t realize how genuinely precious that time was. Hoy, no voy a darles la historia completa…pero vamos a tomar un caminito lejos de mi historia para hablar un poco de la última noche que pasé con Ella.
We were at the Intensive-Care unit of the new BAMC – where for three weeks, the doctors & nurses had done everything in their power to help my mother feel better. Esa mañana, el sábado 10 de diciembre, uno de los doctores la había dicho a mi hermana que ya no tenían a mi mamá en ningún tratamiento – si alguien la quería venir a ver, tenía que ser ahora. That day, visitors were flooding in to my mom’s room – spiritual children she had adopted into her heart & prayed for, childhood friends we had grown-up with, and loved ones that we’d met throughout the years.
Later that evening, my sister Carmen brought her two boys – my mom hadn’t seen them in 3 weeks & in turn, they had been asking about her. ¿Cómo está Mimí? ¿Adónde está Mimí? Why haven’t we seen her? Why hasn’t Mimi been at her house?
The boys ran around the room, my mom smiled; they shared my mom’s dinner. At around 6, Carmen had the boys kiss my mom good-bye - and they headed home. Así como una vez, ella estuvo sentada al lado de mi cama en el hospital – yo me senté al lado de la suya.
Later on that night, Carmen had come back to the hospital by herself, we steered the conversation into a positive light. Hablamos del arbolito de Navidad, del Nacimiento y de qué íbamos a preparar para las cenas de la temporada. We spent the whole night “planning” what we would do that Christmas season. I fell asleep on my mother’s right side – watching her sleep – Carmen fell asleep on Mimi’s left side, holding her hand.
Mi mamá pasó a los brazos de Cristo a las siete y media de la mañana el domingo 11 de diciembre. Siempre será la Capitana de mi equipo – without a doubt, I can now say: my mom was always on my team. [One of her favorite colors was green]