On February 19, 2002 my father called me to discuss my mother’s declining health. He told me that the nurses had informed him that she would pass away in the next few months. I felt so bad about this, and all the pain she had been put through because of Alzheimer’s and breast cancer, I started praying at 9:30pm that she be freed and allowed to go home.
Later on that evening, around 3 in the morning, the telephone started ringing. I was in a deep sleep in which I was dreaming that I was sitting in a red convertible next to my mother who was driving. She had long flowing hair, and was smiling as she drove. We kept driving to try and find the right place she had to go to die.
I finally heard the telephone and awoke to answer it. It was my father who called to say my mother was dying and that I needed to come from Washington DC to Minnesota as soon as possible.
I made my travel arrangements and drove to work to take care of a few things on the way to the airport. During that time, the care facility called me to see what time I would be arriving and to let me know, not much time was left. I asked them to put the telephone to my mother’s head so she could hear. Once that was done, I told her that I was her daughter, and that I was coming to see her and I asked her to wait.
While on the airplane, I went to the flight attendant to ask if my seat could be moved closer to the door because of the situation. After she checked with the captain, I was moved by the door, and the airplane crew had other folks wait until I got off the plane. For some reason, the plane also ended up at the closest gate to the rental cars.
The rental facility got me through their process in under 10 minutes which allowed me to drive quickly to the care facility. When I arrived, I did not know what I would find, my mother still alive, or that she had passed away.
As I approached her room, the nursing staff saw me and escorted me down. They told me for some reason the dying process stopped, that they had never seen anything like it, and that for a time, she was holding her own. My mother had waited for me before passing away.
I am still struck to this day with the fact that my mother heard me, and waited for me. What a great gift.
