Dear Irma, You are are so kind, thoughtful, and loving in your responses to everyone here. You must be the most caring mother anyone ever had! I can totally understand being close to your son touching and talking with those living plants, caressing anything of his that was important to him in life, and sleeping where he was. May that bring you some comfort. I can only imagine the depth of grief a mother feels at the loss of her child. I looked in on mine in the middle of the night to watch him breathe, and I was thinking of you.
My dad was my mentor as a parent and a teacher, and simply as a human being, with both his gifts and his failings. He was 84, so not so many years perhaps were taken from him by this illness, though the last 4 were physically hard, the last 2 being especially tough for him. It was only 3 months from the time ALS was mentioned as a probability, and 2 months from the time of final diagnosis that he died. I stayed with my mother for 2 weeks after, and slept in my father's spot because she didn't want to be alone. They were together for 3 days shy of 51 years. Then my sister (who knits) made her a teddy bear that is stuffed with his old undershirts. He never threw anything away, so there were plenty of them.
I miss my father especially right now because my teenage son is having a hard time coping with High School and life. My dad told me to remember to praise him, and to not forget how much I love him even at the most difficult and trying of times.
Sincerely, Holly
