Overwhelmed or overblessed?

So here we go...not THE dreaded phone call, but close. My mother is 'non-responsive' at the nursing home. Rush trip to the ER and she is very ill. Between visits with nurses, x-ray techs, lab techs, doctors, and the rotation of family in and out...it's odd how God helps you find moments of humor and even moments of tenderness with your mother.....even if she thinks your name is Lisa Jack. I sit next to her as she drifts in and out of a troubled sleep and wonder how she felt when she would sit next to my bed when I was so little, so helpless, so sick. Did she marvel at the softness of my young skin, like I marvel over hers? Although the skin is paper thin and shows it's age, it is so very soft. I smooth her hair and instinctively know that she has done that to me a million times; as a child, as a teenager with a broken heart and as a woman with a worried heart. When did the switch take place....I playing the role of parent to my mother as helpless as a child? She wakes up with a start and anxiously looks around and says, "Welcome to River Oaks." That was one of the lighter moments. It's also oddly comforting (probably not to the male nurse taking her blood samples) that she thinks he is my oldest son, Josh and he has now become a doctor.

She is pretty sick this time. Her dementia is getting worse and I know I will lose her emotionally and mentally before I lose her physically. Where did the time go? When you grow up and leave home you think your parents are immortal and will always be there next week or next month when you can get around to a visit. It's all gone by so fast. We're all wrapped in very complicated tapestries that are called our families. When they start to unravel, you start to experience the harsh realities of the world. You feel the storms coming. The wind is a little stronger. The rain is a little harder. The worries are a little more serious.

Create your family tapestry strong and deeply interwoven, my friends. I pray that my tapestry is so strong and so tight and beautiful that even when I'm gone, it will keep everyone safe and warm and dry.