I know it's been a while and i should have said thank you much earlier than this. Thank you all for keeping my family and I in your thoughts and prayers. We are doing the best we can to move forward and be their for each other.
I don't know when i will get around to writing the brief bio of my mother i promised. What i can say now is that i will get to it when the time is right.
One thing i do want to share with you is that I was blessed to spend one full day with my mom before she passed.
As some of you might know, i currently live in WV and most of my family live in the Dallas area. My mom, who had been living in the US and Ethiopia almost equally in the last 5-8 years, was living with one of my sisters in Dallas. For the Christmas holiday, my wife, son and I went to Dallas to spend almost two weeks with the family (My mother in-law also lives in Dallas). We got there (we drove) on late Sunday night, the 19th, and we stayed at a hotel. We called everyone to say that we've made it safely and that we'll be at my sister's house early Monday morning to 1st visit my mom. I knew that my sisters had a funeral to go to that Monday so I was very eager to get there early so my mom can have most of the day to spend with my son, her youngest grandson, without having to share him with anyone else. On the way there, i told my wife how excited i was for her to see my son (she hadn't seen him in about 3 months) but at the sametime how 'nervous' i was. I couldn't say why i used that word or what i meant by it. I didn't know what exactly i was feeling or why.
We got there early Monday morning and spent the whole day and evening visiting with her. Starting in the late afternoon, my sisters, my brother, my nieces and nephews trickled in so we spent the evening together (laughing till our sides hurt as always). The entire day, and in between meals and such, my mom was knitting a hat for my son. We left my sisters house around 9pm to get my son to bed. We said our goodbyes and promised to comeback early the next morning (Tuesday the 21st).
At 5 am on Tuesday i got the dreaded call from my brother in-law and he told they have taken my mom to a particular hospital and for me to get to asap. He wouldn't tell me how she was and that was enough for me to know that she had already passed.
The only reason i wanted to share this is simply to say that i was at least blessed to spend one whole day with her. It was almost like she was waiting for us to come and visit so she can see her youngest (me) and his son one last time. (And almost equally important, i was among family when i heard the news. I can not imagine what it would have been like if i heard the news when i was still in WV).
There are some things i regret, things i should have done, things i should have said or haven't have said, etc..... However, at least i don't have to regret not seeing her one last time before i lost my opportunity.
I'm not really sure all the reasons to why i wanted to share this with you. I know one reason is that my colleague and very good friend just lost her father yesterday. He lives in Nigeria and she hasn't seen him for a few months. She is handling it well and to some extent has been expecting it for sometime. Still, she has no family in WV and very few in the US. Most of her family is in Nigeria. She has enough friends here to provide her with the social support but i know she wishes that she was with her mother, brother and sisters, aunts and uncles, etc...
This is turning out to be a lot longer than what i intended. It was supposed to be a a simple but heartfelt thank you and a short blurb about my good fortune about seeing my mother before she passed.
Take care of your loved ones and take advantage of every opportunity you have to show them your love and your gratitude for having them in your life (however difficult it might be at times).
