Drove to Charlotte this morning to visit my mom. She's not gonna be with us very much longer and we thought we were gonna lose her this past Friday. I got a message while I was at Heathrow Friday afternoon to call my sister ASAP. I called her while walking through the terminal on the way to my flight to Glasgow. She said that mom was likely gonna pass in the next few hours, and that I needed to say good-bye to her. Not a conversation I wanted to have in an airport 4500 miles away. It was not a good moment. Mom couldn't speak at that time, but she could hear, so I told her to hang on and I'd be there to see her soon. She pulled through somehow during the night and was feeling better by Saturday morning.
The funniest thing happened while I was there visiting today. Me, my sister Donna, my brother Bill, and mom's caretaker Tina were all standing around mom's bed. Someone said the word "beer" in a sentence and mom's eyes lit up. Tina said "Mommie, do you want a beer?" I told her that I'd have one if she was having one, and she shook her head yes.
So Donna went and got a beer, poured half of it into a cup, which she handed to Tina, and handed the rest to me. Mom can't hold her drinks these days, so Tina held it for her while she sipped it through a straw. It was mom's first drink in probably 8 years. When she got down to the last little sip, Tina said, "Now, Mommie (that's what she calls her), take this last sip and then the bar's closing."
To which mom barked "Who said so?" It was so funny that we were all rolling around laughing.
Donna grabbed a few more beers, and all 3 Davis kids had a beer with mom. It was pretty surreal.
What a precious, precious story ... and what a precious, precious memory to have ... "Beer With Momannem". These are the things that we take forever through this life with us. So sorry time's drawing closer to let her go Bob. Sounds like a hoot of a woman! Thanks so much for sharing that surreal place in time with us.
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