[CaptainCrunch]

My Mom died today at about 1:00PM. She fought hard til the end and it felt like she waited for all of us kids and my Dad to show up. Once we were there, Once we had a chance to talk to her and tell her that we would never forget her, and that she would see her sisters in heaven. She stopped breathing.

Its strange after 3 years of dealing with this awful disease, her struggle is over.

Even with all of our family at odds right now, we all came together for her.

Its strange, I was dreading this day for a while, but even with the sadness, there's a bit of a feeling of relief. She's not being tortured anymore by her mind and her body.

My mom wasn't perfect, she had her struggles. both my parents do, and my Dad is still dealing with his.

But when I think of my mom, I think of

She loved, cooking for huge family gatherings, and having the family over for a huge meal around a huge table. She loved to cook and was amazing at it. Nobody could beat of Swedish Meatballs. Or her Stuffing and Turkey. Or her roast beef. Her cheese cake, and her apple or blueberry pies rivaled any that I've eaten anywhere else.

She was tough on me growing up. I wasn't how you'd say it, a great student. In grade 3 I had passing grades just barely, and my mom demanded I hold her back. When I heard that I was pissed, I remember not talking to her for days. But she was right, I learned a valuable lesson from her that day, and throughout my life.

I remember her coming out to my sporting events, and when I was in plays. Or when I tried my hand at amateur night at Yuk Yuks (Though she heckled me brilliantly).

I remember when I joined the army and she say down with me, and told me that she would worry about me every day, even though I told her it wasn't dangerous.

My friends would call her the tank. My mom was always skinny with lots of energy. But when she got mad at me, she would chase me like a tank, I'd throw obstacles behind me but she was relentless, and incredibly fast.

I remember when my mom would get forms from school to fill out with parent information and she always wrote "None of your damn business" in the space for her age. She was 39 for about 15 years.

I remember driving her home from Coaldale and missing the Fort McLeod turn off and driving an hour off track, and my mom laughing at me and telling me that at least we were lost together.

When a girl that I dated overdosed a year after I stopped seeing her, I was upset, but Mom was there with unconditional love and comfort.

When I started coaching football, my mom became a football fan, she started watching Stampeder games, and would come out when she could when I was coaching to cheer our team on. Then she would ask me if all of that yelling was really necessary.

I was going through some stuff today, and she had kept a letter from my grandma to my grandpa who had gone back to Germany, Grandma was complaining about her daughters being out til three in the morning partying with those boys from that other farm, and that my mom was a bad influence.

My mom loved to dance, and loved music and encourage us all to play the piano. I hated the piano and was determined to quit, so I came up with a plan. I learned one song Hans Christian Anderson's "Silver Skates", and I played it an hour a day over and over 7 days a week for a year before my mom finally gave him and let me off the hook. I regret not learning the piano, my sisters are very good, and I can play chopsticks and Silver skates.

I remember my mom trying to teach me math using apples when I was failing math. Me being so frustrated and her gentle encouragement as we started over from step one over and over again. She told me she was over the top proud when I got my degree.

When you grow up as the lone boy and the youngest child with three older sisters. Your life is frankly hell. but Mom was always there to shield me from the worst of the torture, though she missed the time is the second grade when my sister gave me an impromptu and horrible haircut the night before school photos. But she still called that awful picture her favorite decades late.

One of my favorite images of her was after we adopted a Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy and she was sitting outside in a lawn chair with a rye and ginger in one hand and the puppy curled up in her lap stealing licks out of her drink. That dog grew to be a 60 pound brute, who was incredibly protective of her, and never left her side.

I don't know if this is an epilogue to this string, or if I'll come back to it.

But I hated what this disease did to my formerly energetic, whip smart accountant of a mother who wouldn't take guff from anyone. She was a farm girl raised by her German immigrant parents, with 3 sisters who she protected and loved. She was a fierce protector of her hometown of Coaldale. I got the famous mom stare when I said once that Coaldale always smelled like over ripe cowpoop.

I said it before and I'll say it again. call your mom she thinks of you all the time and she worries. Tell her you love her, get her gifts for mothers day and thank her. Or if your mom is gone, take a moment to think of her.

RTB 1934 -2023 RIP

"It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I have ever known."