Tough Times Don't Last...

Even though I had high hopes for my weekend, it ended up being kinda crappy. It breaks my heart to tell you that my sweet mamaw (dad's mom) passed away on Friday evening. My dad was very close to his mama and I was extremely close to her growing up; I am even named after her. Mamaw had just turned 70 years old in March. She had suffered a stroke almost 4 years ago that left the left side of her body unable to be rehabilitated. She had spent the last 4 years in a nursing home. And although the nursing home she was in gave her the very best care they could, it still wasn't the best quality of life for her. She was unable to carry on regular conversations because the stroke severly affected her speech. For the last 4 years, my brother, dad and I have visited her just about every single Sunday afternoon. Even though we were only able to catch a glimpse of the mamaw we knew and loved, we still very much cherished that time with spent with her. She was fully able to comprehend the things said to her, but she was not always able to communicate back. It's been a tough 4 years for us. The past couple months she had been in and out of the hospital with breathing problems. Since she's been unable to move on her own for the past several years, she had gained a signifcant amount of weight in the nursing home - which also adversly affected her overall health. My daddy was with her on Friday afternoon when she passed. I know it's selfish of me, but I miss her. Today was especially hard because it's Sunday and I would have been visiting her. We will be having her services tomorrow night because everything has been planned for years. I do take solace knowing she's with the Lord now and she's much better off. I'm sure tomorrow will be a tough day, but then we can begin to heal. She will be the first person on my dad's side of the family to be cremated. Those were her wishes. I'm hoping when we go to spread her ashes it will offer a strange sense of therapy.

I did some things today to try and keep my mind off my sweet mamaw, which I will tell you about in a later post. But I might not be around for a couple days, so please keep my family in your thoughts or prayers. I have already received so much support via Twitter so I cannot tell you how much it means to me to know that you care. Love y'all!

I just keep telling myself that tough times don't last, but tough people do!