Angels From Heaven (standard:Creative non-fiction, 1697 words)
Author: karenmcguffin	Added: Jan 27 2006	Views/Reads: 3461/2206	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Thousands of bright lights filled the sky surrounding the balloons

One of the most vivid memories I have as a child was that I was afraid
of the dark. Realizing this, mom would come into my room after I had 
gone to bed and sit next to me, reassuring me that I was going to be 
ok, she would tell me I wasn't alone, that she would be in the next 
room and if I needed her all I had to do was call out her name and she 
would be there. She always made sure she left my door open just a bit 
and left the hall light on for me. It always worked, I could go to 
sleep and not be afraid. 

My mom was getting ready to retire, she had so many plans. She was going
sell her home, and move to Big Bear California with my sister Cindy and 
her family. She was so excited to be getting away from my father, and 
to start a new chapter in her life, she was closing the book and 
writing a final end to her life with Don. All of us girls were happy 
for Mom, even though we knew we wouldn't see her as often we knew that 
it was the best thing for her. Mom was finally going to get to live for 
herself, she would be free from working (although we knew she would 
probably find a part time job in Big Bear, she wouldn't be able to 
handle sitting around!) but most importantly she wouldn't be with in 
arms length of Don, he would have to travel a great distance to harass 
her. 

The day Mom retired, her work gave her a big going away party. My sister
Teresa and I were both asked to come and be part of the celebration of 
my moms dedicated work with the residents. I was excited to go and to 
meet these wonderful people my mom talked about so much. I have to say 
it was an experience that I will never forget! The residents were all 
gathered around the room, and each one would stand and look my mom and 
my sister and I in the eye, each one of them telling of how my mom had 
touched their life, how much better they enjoyed living there own life 
because of her. She touched each and every one of them. I have never 
felt so much pride for her as I did at that moment. I was very proud to 
be my mom's daughter. 

It was almost time for my mom to move, all the plans had been made. The
U-Haul was paid for; Cindy was ready to come get her. Mom had planned a 
big get together which included all of us girls, our family, all of us 
were going to be together once more to go on a ride down the Columbia 
River on the Stern Wheeler. There was just one more thing that had to 
be done before she could go, and it would prove to be the last thing 
she ever did. 

Mom was to have surgery on Monday, just a simple operation, she had a
tumor on her ovary that needed to be removed, and a small hernia on her 
belly button. The doctor reassured us that this was a routine operation 
and mom would be well on her way to recovering in a few days. 

While in the waiting room my Aunt Betty, Teresa and I tried to keep our
thoughts positive. We talked and laughed about old times, held hands, 
tired to act like everything was ok. The time was going so slowly, and 
as each minute passed I was getting more nervous, I tried to act like 
nothing was wrong but I had this bad feeling deep inside me, I knew 
something was wrong. 

The doctor finally came out and told us the operation went fine and Mom
was in recovery, he said that there was a small problem with the 
hernia, he explained that it was wrapped around the small intestine, 
but he assured us everything was fine, that mom was doing good and we 
could go see her in just a little while. When Teresa and I were allowed 
to go into her room I was horrified, she was still asleep but her skin 
looked gray, ashen. To be honest she looked dead to me. I don't know 
what Teresa was thinking but I wasn't thinking good thoughts. It scared 
me to see her look like that, I have seen people come out of recovery, 
and they didn't look the way my mom did. My heart sank, the feeling I 
had gotten in the waiting room was even more prominent now then it was. 
Mom was having a difficult time coming out of the anesthesia, the nurse 
was telling us to make sure we woke her up and keep her awake. 

In the following days mom just didn't look like herself, her eyes were
glassed over, she would stare off in the distance with an expression I 
cant quite explain, it was if we weren't there, she had trouble 
speaking and focusing on what we were talking about, she wasn't eating, 
wasn't drinking any liquids, and not able to walk but a few feet. 
Teresa and I were very concerned. 



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