It is so easy to neglect our family. I believe this happens because we take for granted that they will always be there. Around this time in 2005, I had closed on a new home. My mother and sisters came to Florida to help me move into my new home. Think about it. Christmas coming, unpacking, setting up a new home and trying to decorate all at the same time. It was so chaotic that I had to laugh. We actually were able to put up the Christmas tree on Christmas eve. By New Years day, we had gotten some semblance of order. The day after New Years day my mother and sister left headed back to the Carolinas. Little did I know that this would be the last holiday that we would spend with our mother. On January 9, 2006, my mother died of a blood clot in the lung. Talk about shocked and devastated. I am just glad that I had a special time with my mother that holiday. I hugged her and kissed her and just babied her. This was something that I never did because my mother was such a strong black woman. There was never any room to pamper her. However, the time that we spent together during that Christmas revealed a vulnerability in her that I had never seen. I can remember whispering in her ears that I loved her. It was like a vale was removed between us and roles were beginning to be reversed. For the first time in my life, I saw her as my baby who needed to be loved and protected. I am so glad that God granted me this time with her. I am glad we spoke those words that are often times left unspoken. I know she left here knowing that I truly loved her and I know that she truly loved me. Take time this holiday to mend fences and speak the unspoken. We never know for whom the bell will toll.
