If she were alive, my mother would have celebrated her 98th birthday today and we would be planning her 100th. That wouldn’t have been too far-fetched since her mother lived to 102. However, instead, mom came down with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) better known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.
With that disease, most of the muscles in a person’s body cease to function properly and the patient becomes a mind trapped in a body. Mom was “lucky” and her ALS was the fast-moving type. She passed away three years after being diagnosed, dying in May twenty-four years ago.
While the time softens some of the sorrow, it is still very much like an open wound. I get more upset as the years go by because I find it harder to remember certain things about her. The years are making some of the things about my mom fade but the love I have for her will never fade.
Happy Birthday, Mom!