Moms aren't supposed to get sick, the last time she did was a cough/cold thing going around. My mom doesn't have diabetes, her bp is OK (with meds) she's almost 82. I read something yesterday which put it in words how I feel. I read that when you take care of your parents or do some things for them, you begin to take a look at your own mortality. My dad had 2 heart attacks before I turned 15 years old, it wasn't easy for him. When this happens you have to slowly reabuild yourself and push every day to exercise, eat right and be careful not to over do it. When I was in my 20's my mom had a lumpectomy with radiation. I took her to her appointments, visited her at the hospital, and she was the strongest person with breast cancer in all the world. Never once did I think she'd die from it, or maybe don't remember. A little while ago she told me that was the scariest thing she ever went through. My mother has been taken for curt, mean, brash, rude, cold, harsh, hard for her words to others or about from time to time. She was raised privilidged and born in 1925 in Wheeling, West Virginia. She had 2 older siblings Hugh and Margorie. She often says how she missed talking to him about anything little or small. She remembers one conversation with him as he was referring to having his leg amputated due to a bypass surgery that didn't heal, he said "Well now that I only have 1 leg, I only have to worry about cutting the toenails on 5 toes instead of 10!".
Being born through a depression makes one appreciate every little thing. My mother was not wasteful, she loved spending money on her family but lived a modest life. When she was young she remembers there being an "X" infront of her house on the pavement by the street. Her parents told her that was from the beggars that knew they could go to their home for food. She and her sister volunteered at the local Red Cross with their mother for many years. Due to the usual flooding in Ohio she always had lots to do. Her sister and mother later on were very important community figures volunteering for the Citizens of the Blind and the Cancer Society. To this day every month, she donates to her charities: The Red Cross, Human Society, Cancer Society, National Wildlife, from feeding children, Veterans of Foreign Wars, to the National Republican Party, Border Control, to keeping English as our first language. I am sure I missed a few.
Her brother Hughie went on to the steel business following in his fathers footsteps. He met Martha his wfe throughout his life and had 4 childre; Heather, Briar, Malcolm & Timmy. My mother loves to tell a story about Heather then about 3 or 4 yrs old, "Heather and I were riding in the car from Wheeling back home, Heather fell asleep in the car and after about an hour she woke up and asked me", "Auntie Charlotte, I had the greatest sleep, did you?" Throughout the years she kept the rest of us up to date what each of the four were doing and who married a republican or a democrat. Very important in this family those things are. She could really talk up a storm she called it about those things with Hughie.
She loved horseback riding, even though her mother insisted that she should give it up due to her falling. She went to high school in Wheeling, W.VA. and 2 years at Knox in Cooperstown, NY and later graduated from Katie Gibbs in NY.
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