This blog will be posted on Mothers’ Day 2022. I have written about my mother and my step-mother before and how much love and care I received from them. I have also written much about my wife who wanted children so badly, but had to settle for mothering our dogs as her “fur babies”. She also mothered me on occasion too. I look forward to being with those wonderful ladies when I get to heaven and I do my best to honor them by being the man they all knew I could be.
This year I want to write about the wonderful women God has put in my life since my wife died. Many of them have been caregivers furnished by the Veterans’ Administration. Most of them are young enough to be my daughters or grand-daughters, but they have treated me to the same loving care they give to their own children. My caregiver on Tuesday and Thursday now, Jan, has introduced my blog to her mother and although we have never met, she continually sends me home cooked meals that have all been delicious comfort food. I want to thank every caregiver past and present and wish them a wonderful Mothers’ Day.
There are four other beautiful Christian women God has placed in my life. They are all dear loving sisters to me, but each of them occasionally mothers me too. The youngest is my next door neighbor, Maureen. She reads my blog regularly, checks in to see how I am doing and has brought me food as well. The one who is closest to my age is Cheryl. We met at church and I helped her put her hand written book into manuscript form. We have become very close friends and she visits me in person and by phone on a regular basis. Those times of sharing are very encouraging and uplifting for both of us. The third one is Suzanne who is a friend of Cheryl’s who has become a good friend of mine. Her daughter, Charity, is sleeping in my master bedroom upstairs while she is in town. The last, but certainly not least of the four mothers in my life is Cathie. She is a retired school teacher who has become my advocate with VA. She is the one who recognized the serious effects the Covid virus was having on me and arranged for a hospital room and emergency ambulance ride to it. She called me every day in the hospital and rehab center for those five weeks and kept in touch with them to make sure I received the best care. She still calls me at least every other day to check on me and share what is going on in her life. Sometimes those quick calls to check on me last two or three hours and are filled with plenty of laughs. I credit Cathie with saving my life because I did not realize how weak or disoriented I had become and how quickly I needed treatment. Cathie has also been instrumental in getting VA to furnish me the ramp, wheelchair and power chair that I now have.
Cathie and I met in what can only be described as a hookup from God. I saw her walking down the aisle at church and mistook her for Suzanne. I asked if she want to stop by Culvers for lunch after the service and when she turned around I saw it wasn’t Suzanne. I’m sure it was the Holy Spirit who prompted me to speak to her and she said the Holy Spirit prompted her to say yes to my invitation. We had a wonderful lunch getting to know each other and have been very close ever since. Neither I nor any of those four beautiful women are looking for romance from our relationships and they know each other so our relationships are purely as brother and sisters in Christ although there has still been some mothering involved. I’m sure my wife and mother would approve of each of them.
I wish a very special day to each of you reading this who have experienced motherhood.