The face of sickness

My mom was in the hospital this weekend. It has been a long week, necessitating two trips down to Salem to care for are she literally wasn't herself. All week long the woman who called herself my mother lied in bed, lethargic and without any energy to care for herself. As our family buzzed about her trying to get her drink the smallest sip of water, to get something into a system that was failing and rejecting everything at time I felt the deep despair that comes as we witness the twilight of one's life. Too often I have been party to scenes revolving the extinguishing of life so young, undetermined in it's course only to see it end before it began but this is altogether different and disheartening. Time has applied the Balm of Gilead to a wounded heart, the airs of change bringing me much more to experience and relish, laying aside pain enough for a lifetime. But this is my mother, someone who gave birth to me, I've admired, learned from. Death comes to all. This is a possibility and part of Heavenly Father's plan. Faith in the Atonement of Jesus Christ WILL bring peace in time but that being said I do fall to the weakness of being selfish and wanting a way out, a way for my mom to persist in this temporal plane. I think we all do. That's ok because it gives me the motivation to cherish every moment of my association with her and to wait with excitement at the fullfillment of the Holy Temple, where each and every one of us can be sealed as a family for time and all eternity. My mom is better now, the doctor diagnosing her with the flu and patching her up for another go. I am grateful for every moment.

PS Take care of yourself this winter, the flu is everywhere and the ER was jam packed with well worn people fighting with this very infectious disease. Don't panic but be sure to watch yourself and wash yourself.