A Favorite Holiday Memory

I decided to link up with BlogHer’s November 2014 NaBloPoMo writing prompts. I have been looking for a good blog challenge and this is it! I already missed the post for November 3rd and it is after midnight on the 5th (meaning I technically missed the 4th), but I wanted to do the November 4th post anyway..

A favorite holiday memory.

My favorite holiday memory is bittersweet. It was the last Christmas I spent with my Mother. For those of you who don’t know, my Mother passed away in February 2000 from complications with Multiple Sclerosis. Just before her last Christmas, my brother had taken me to visit her in the nursing home. She was awake and alert. My brother wandered off in search of the soda and snack machines, giving me a good chunk of time to have my Mother all to myself.

I told her I was doing the school musical. She smiled. There was a song she used to sing to me when I was younger and I sang it for her. She smiled and let me wipe the few tears that spilled down her face. We talked about life. I told her I wasn’t mad at her for giving us up for adoption and I finally understood why.

-In fact, the older I get and the older Mini gets, the more I respect her for doing what needed to be done. I can’t imagine any circumstance where I’d have to give Mini up. I have no idea what I’d do if I couldn’t see her every day.-

That day, I told my Mother everything I had ever wanted to. I asked questions. Some answers were sarcastic (apparently it’s genetic!) and some were serious. It was a connection I had so desperately needed while growing up in another home, away from her. I never told my brother what happened when he was out snack hunting. I really owe him my gratitude.