Well I guess we all have to go through this at some point in our lives, and the later the better I’d say. Sadly this can’t hold out forever and on the 27th August, after a very long illness, my mother sailed away in her lifeboat to the stars.
Yesterday we said Goodbye to her in a service and a following wake, that went perfectly. That sounds odd, it was a funeral but even so, everyone performed their roles to perfection. It made us proud, it did Mum proud. We couldn’t ask for more.
The odd thing for me is that I am not really cut up about this. Sure I feel very sad that I have lost my Mother. It feels really strange to be fair. However, poor Mum has been suffering progressive failures in her brain for the better part of ten years. In the end her quality of life was non-existent. If she were an animal we wouldn’t let it get this far. That is not an option for humans and nature had to take its course.
As odd as this sounds I am glad she has been released, I am glad she has her dignity back and I am glad people remember her for the person she was, not the wreak she became. I didn’t want to lose my Mother but biology, genetics, living style, who knows what, decreed otherwise and the slow decent to destruction was so stressing to watch.
If anyone has words against the NHS then I will prove them wrong. The NHS looked after Mum so well, so bloody well. As she entered her final months they provided a hospital bed in her own bedroom, with an air mattress and pumps, and oxygen generators, and everything she needed to be as comfortable as she could be.
In the end, those explosions in her brain started hitting critical parts, and in the morning of August 26th, something happened, something we knew would happen eventually. An event in her brain that caused her to abandon ship, booted her out into that lifeboat. Her body continues to live for several more hours but it was clear she had left us already. Having realised that we had our time to say goodbye properly before her freewheeling body eventually crashed and the lights went out for the last time.
I am so glad I had that time with her and for me it brought closure.
Sail well Mum. I thank you and I love you.
