Phone call from Mom

As usual, I just returning calls to clients and my phone rang. The Caller ID showed me it was my Mom's cell phone. I answered and said, "Hi Mom, what's up".

She responded, "Not much, how are you".
"Good, just working", I said.
"Well they took Mr. Bill back to the hospital from the nursing home, he has some sort of infection but he is doing O.K. right now" ( Mr. Bill, is Donnie's daddy ). She continued, "Mrs. Virgina's sick now"

"What?"

"You know she has been staying with us some since Mr. Bill has been sick".

"Yeah", I knew that.

" Well, she fell yesterday when she was at the nursing home with Mr. Bill. She hit her head but they checked her out and she seemed fine but, she was a little nauseated. Last night she started throwing up and having diarrhea. She had lots of diarrhea, I was up with her all night. This morning before I got ready for work I woke Donnie up and told him that his mama was sick and needed to watch her. Well he called me at work and said that he was taking him mama to the doctor because she wasn't doing any better. When he got to the doctor with her, he sent her to the hospital to be admitted."

I asked, "Do they know what's wrong with her"?

"No, not yet they just started her on some IV fluids". ( Obviously she is probably dehydrated )

She continued, "Anyway, after I got off of the phone with Donnie this morning. My cell phone rang, it was Mark ( her brother ) he said that Mama was going to the hospital. She has had another mini stroke". ( This makes me nervous she has had 2 or 3 mini strokes already which increases her chances of having a fatal stroke one day).

"How is she doing", I wanted to know?

"Her face is affected some this time Jackie, and her speech is affected. It is very very difficult to understand her".

My heart sank. I grew up and my Papa and Nannie were like a second set of parents for Stacy and I. During the summer staying at their house. Nannie fixed breakfast for us every morning usually 2 eggs over easy and 2 pieces of bacon with one piece of toast. Those were the best breakfasts I have ever eaten. During the day we usually helped Nannie and Papa with some sort of garden activity which usually lead to shelling butter beans, crowder peas, or shelling pecans right up until lunch. It was during these times we usually sat and talked with Nannie. She usually talked with us like we were adults even though we were only about 7 or 8 years old. Of course often times she talked to us about her growing up and how difficult life was before electricity and indoor plumbing. These were such great stories and I still remember many of them. At lunch time we usually just had a sandwich or Nannie fixed a small Mr P's brand pizza. Now that I have grown up I think these are really crappy pizzas but because of the memories that I have of them I still like them. After lunch Nannie and Papa religiously watched "The Young and The Restless" by default, so did Stacy and I. Usually while watching TV, Nannie or Papa or both would fall asleep. Then Stacy and I would also take a nap. In the afternoons Stacy spent a lot of time playing and occupying ourselves. It was during this time we played soccer, 1 on 1 using pinetrees in their yard as goal post, or made different kinds of paper airplanes while Nannie scolded us for wasting paper. We spent time making bows and arrows, slingshots, watching or helping Nannie and Papa as they did yard work, or worked on ceramics, a hobby of theirs.

Hearing about Nannies recent stroke makes me realize that the tomb on those memories is almost sealed. It's horrible realizing that such a fond part of life has almost evaporated.