Our mother demonstrated the kind of person she was to the very end of her life. Her last words to us, whispered through her suffering just a day before she passed, were to thank us for everything we did for her, to tell us over and over again "I love you" and to urge us to be happy and to stay together. She thought of others, not of herself, not of her suffering, but of each of our futures and of our futures together as a family. She then said the words "bye-bye"... A few days prior, when she had more strength, we came into the room and asked how she was, and she said "My husband is coming to pick me up soon." The day she passed, she could no longer speak but she waited until all three of us, Tom, Mary Jo and I, were in the room together and, as her heart visibly began to weaken, she looked at all of us as we said our final goodbyes. Then her eyes moved away from us and looked up to the heavens...as Dad came to pick her up. She missed dad so much. We are happy they are together again.
