A New Angel

It's early morning Wednesday and we just got the news that Bob's mom Doreen passed away.

Two weeks prior to this she was in the hospital although the doctors couldn't seem to peg down what the problem was. Last Thursday is one of the memories I will always carry with me of her smiling and crossing her fingers in hopes that the doctors would let her go home. She looked so fantastic and well that we were sure she had found her way back. Friday afternoon they released her but no one in the family had had contact with her doctors and were somewhat surprised to find her home when they got home from work.

Saturday brought on a whole new set of syptoms and by Monday morning she was sicker than she had been before entering the hospital the first time. We got the call Tuesday afternoon that we needed to get to the hospital immediately. Again, Bob and I don't have the answers as to what was going on or why she had taken such a turn. She was on life support although her heart was beating on it's own and we were told she was sedated and not unconscious. We sat with her and talked to her for a few hours and sat in the family room with the brothers. The youngest brother explained that the doctors had had a three day plan but after a few hours told him to get the family together.

Bob is taking the news as well as can be expected.

It's a year and 6 days since his father passed and Bob's first words when I told him the news were that Magoo's stint in Heaven just got a little noisier with the arrival of his wife. I told him Magoo was fine, it's Frank Sinatra that is entertaining a new guest.

Doreen was a month shy of her 86th birthday, was married to Kenneth (Magoo) for 59 years, had 7 boys and 4 grandkids. She never spent a day in a nursing home and was always surrounded by her family. Magoo may have thought he wore the pants in the family and everyone let him think it but it was Mama Smith who ruled the roost. The boys will be lost without her and there are many people whose lives she touched that will miss her always.

As a mother in law she was perfect. The wedding band I wear on my finger is the first one Magoo gave her and is almost 61 years old. She told me how she always wanted a daughter but in the end, it was her sons who gave them to her. She spoiled us women rotten and loved us as if we were her own and for someone like me, who wasn't raised in an affectionate or overly accepting family, she was a balm to my soul.

She will be sorely missed. Love you Mama.