More on my Birthday

Being on the 8th of May my birthday is very close to Mother's Day.  Some years I even share the day with Mother's Day!  This year, of course, Mother's Day followed my birthday.

My mother has been living in Utah for the past few years.  I have two sisters that stay in Utah at Bountiful.  They have been there for a number of years already.  Mom had carried on living in Graaf-Reinett after my father passed away.

Although my Brother, Jason, would often be there during the day, I think she was essentially rather lonely.  Sadly, this all changed the weekend before Christmas a few years ago when she was brutally beaten and left unconscious in the house by some demonic miscreant.  My brother, who was to be going out of town for some work, felt he should pop in on his way out and came across Mom in a pool of blood on the floor.  For Mom, this was fortunate and months of healing, car and worry ensued.  Following the trauma of the experience for Mom, the majority of the family felt it would be best for her to go and stay with my sisters in Utah; far away from the incident and everything that could remind her of it.  It was a good decision and she seems to be doing well in her new home.

For me, Mother's Day is one of the occasions that I make a point of speaking to Mom.  This year I had intended calling her at about 20h00 South African time but she beat me to it by calling at about 18h00.  The line was not the best but Mom's voice has also become rather hoarse following her horrific experience.  That, coupled with my not being able to hear too well over the phone, made for a rather stressful period of talking with her and not being able to understand much of what she was saying.

I often feel guilty about not being in contact with my mother as often as I should.  This, coupled with some of the things she has said over that traumatic period rest heavily on my mind even though I know that many of the things that were said by her during that period were 'not really her' speaking.  There is the saying that 'There is never smoke without a fire'.