Recovered Memories
Friday night spaghetti dinners were a weekly gathering for my "Family" when I was young. My mom, along with our family friends would relax after a long week for TGIF. I grew up amoung other single parents. It was always the moms and kids. The moms would talk and laugh over a glass of wine, while the kids played hide and seek or soaked in the hot tub for hours on end. It's no wonder we didn't cook ourselves to death! It was always a good time.
Our Friday night events soon turned into fun filled camping trips. We'd sit around a campfire and sing songs while one of the Moms played the guitar. We roasted marshmallows, got filthy dirty and hiked all over the place. I remember it almost like yesterday, even though I had blocked it out for a while.
My mind is wandering... I remember throwing my Mom a big 50th Birthday party. I bought a HUGE cake, served wine, picked a specific menu and invited 25 of my Mom's closest friends. It was a reunion. The "Moms" had taken a break from each other for some unknown reason. Almost two years had gone by before we actually got together again. After that party, they began to speak more often and by Christmas time, we were sharing laughs and gifts again. I remember it being a sad time though. One of the Cindys had cancer. But we were all very hopefully. She still seemed very vibrant and her voice was still as loud as before. She always had a loud voice.
I had a dream the other night. It sparked much of these thoughts, mainly because I had trouble remembering them and had to really fight with myself to recall them. My Mom helped fill me in on the details I seemed to have blocked out.
My Mom became a very dedicated friend. She took her friend to the doctor and spent the time with the family. My Mom was the one who was with her when she found out that the cancer was surrounding her heart and lungs and she didn't have but days to live. It was my Mom who sat in the room while she told her two children of the news. And it was the Moms who gathered in the emergency room days before her passing.
The Moms have gone through some tough times together. They battled sickness, death, lost love, children, the battle to raise and provide for their children alone. It was in these times that a bond was formed. Not a friendship bond, but one of love, respect, and admiration... a bond so strong, it became family.
I remember the funeral. I recall seeing the "children" support this "Mom" one last time as they carried her out of the catholic church. I don't know what smell was stronger, that of insense or pot.... but I suppose we deal with it as best we can.
As I sat there tonight amoungst all of these women, minus my Mom (she was not feeling well), I found myself laughing and enjoying myself. However, I am not that kid anymore. I am, what I suppose you might call, a "mom." We have all suffered together, we all have stuggled. They have been supportive of me 100% and I know that if I didn't have anything, they would hold their hand out to me. That is family. It gives me hope.
Our Friday night events soon turned into fun filled camping trips. We'd sit around a campfire and sing songs while one of the Moms played the guitar. We roasted marshmallows, got filthy dirty and hiked all over the place. I remember it almost like yesterday, even though I had blocked it out for a while.
My mind is wandering... I remember throwing my Mom a big 50th Birthday party. I bought a HUGE cake, served wine, picked a specific menu and invited 25 of my Mom's closest friends. It was a reunion. The "Moms" had taken a break from each other for some unknown reason. Almost two years had gone by before we actually got together again. After that party, they began to speak more often and by Christmas time, we were sharing laughs and gifts again. I remember it being a sad time though. One of the Cindys had cancer. But we were all very hopefully. She still seemed very vibrant and her voice was still as loud as before. She always had a loud voice.
I had a dream the other night. It sparked much of these thoughts, mainly because I had trouble remembering them and had to really fight with myself to recall them. My Mom helped fill me in on the details I seemed to have blocked out.
My Mom became a very dedicated friend. She took her friend to the doctor and spent the time with the family. My Mom was the one who was with her when she found out that the cancer was surrounding her heart and lungs and she didn't have but days to live. It was my Mom who sat in the room while she told her two children of the news. And it was the Moms who gathered in the emergency room days before her passing.
The Moms have gone through some tough times together. They battled sickness, death, lost love, children, the battle to raise and provide for their children alone. It was in these times that a bond was formed. Not a friendship bond, but one of love, respect, and admiration... a bond so strong, it became family.
I remember the funeral. I recall seeing the "children" support this "Mom" one last time as they carried her out of the catholic church. I don't know what smell was stronger, that of insense or pot.... but I suppose we deal with it as best we can.
As I sat there tonight amoungst all of these women, minus my Mom (she was not feeling well), I found myself laughing and enjoying myself. However, I am not that kid anymore. I am, what I suppose you might call, a "mom." We have all suffered together, we all have stuggled. They have been supportive of me 100% and I know that if I didn't have anything, they would hold their hand out to me. That is family. It gives me hope.
posted by Jenn & John at 1:03 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home