Morning All Y’all! Yes, it is a beautiful Spring morning here in NC, thanks for noticing. I hope you’re also noticing how wonderful the day is today!
It’s also Mother’s Day, so a big shout out to all the Mom’s out there. Hope you’re relaxing and not having to do anything this day. First thing I thought of this morning was my Mom and BH’s Mom. How I do miss them.
When I was young, Mom always got a new outfit from head to toe, hat, dress and shoes. Women wore hats back then to church or they’d were a lace cap of white, sometimes black if their husbands and passed. Sometimes if one was forgotten, the woman would use her husband’s handkerchief or even a tissue. We’d joking call them doilies, those things the older folks always kept on the coffee and end tables so the wood or glass wouldn’t get scratched. Of course those were not as fine as the caps that were worn. Some carried on the tradition even as I started grade school and those women would glare at the ones who stopped. By the '70’s Mom stopped getting a new hat but always got a new dress and shoes.
My Mom was a fantastic cook, always trying new recipes and we always ate what was put on the table or we went to bed hungry. Both my parents were born in the early '30’s and had a different belief system on feeding their children. We always had to have a “thank you portion” even if we knew we didn’t like it since tastes change as we get older. Embarrassingly, so did anyone who sat for a meal at her table. We had a family friend from the Dominican Republic that often came for Sunday dinner. One Christmas he brought his girlfriend. He did not like fruit cake and neither do I. Mom would load that stuff with so much brandy or bourbon you could get drunk just off the smell. I told him it was Christmas so he didn’t have to eat it, he was relieved, his girlfriend got mad and started fussing at him. He was embarrassed as all get out. Bless Mom’s heart, she told the girlfriend that it was rude not to speak English at her table. Mom didn’t speak Spanish but Dad and I could get by well enough. Good thing she wasn’t swearing at him or Dad would have jumped in. He didn’t even have a chance to take his thank you portion since I grabbed the plate and put it up at the sink. Mom said thank you to me! I still do not like split pea soup, nor corn from a can. Even when Libby’s started lining their cans, I could tell. If it was canned at home, I could eat it fine, but not store bought. Mom always tried to pull the corn in a can thing with me and she would laugh at the first bite I took. I learned to take a thank you portion so I wouldn’t be stuck trying to eat corn from a can.
Mom also loved yellow roses. One year as a teen, I’d been working at the neighbor’s barn for $1/day and saved up to get her a yellow rose bush. For the next couple of years I’d plant her another. Rose bushes were less expensive than buying a dozen roses and they last a whole lot longer. Dad continued the practice after I left home and even when they moved to the mountains where she had some beautiful ones with a very high fence to stop the deer from decimating them. They moved here to NC and the first thing I did was prep a little area in front of the kitchen window and we planted a yellow rose front and center. It did really well and I do miss it. We couldn’t transfer it to the new house but I was able to grab a couple that weren’t doing so well. One didn’t take the transfer but the other is doing good as I look over and see it’s deep purple.
I have some great memories of my Mom. She didn’t bat an eye after I ruptured and she happily started teaching me to cook again. She’d joke around that I didn’t need to stand on the chair again. We had a black chair that was used when we were helping her cook as soon as we got tall enough not to have to use a kitchen chair. It was also used for when one of us got into trouble and we had to turn it into the corner and sit still for what felt like forever. I despised that black chair. When they moved, Mom had stripped the old paint off and I loved it, a nice white oak chair that Dad had put some oil on it and Mom waxed it with Johnson’s floor wax which was used for everything wood and floors back in the day.
Thanks for letting me talk about my Mom. I hope you get to talk to yours and give her a hug. If not, talk about her, it makes the heart feel good even if a little sad. Now on to all good things!
@rosie is up in Minnesota. Rosie ruptured and was treated with the endovascular method. Unfortunately, her aneurysm has grown and the coil is unraveling. Rosie is trying to decide which approach is her best option. Rosie shares she lives in Minneapolis with her husband and young daughter. She’s also grateful to find us. She’s on the ball and has already started a new topic Looking for advice and doctor reccomendations
@JKC is over in Hawai’i. She was also treated endovascularly. Joyce shares that after having a sudden thunderclap headache, she went to the hospital via ambulance. Diagnosed with a severe headache she was sent home. She went three more times to the ER. The fourth time, they finally took her concerns seriously and had to have emergency coiling. Joyce shares they couldn’t operate on her brain because she was recovering from surgery removing an aneurysm from her aortic arch. Joyce shares 15 years later she has strange feelings in her brain, has vertigo and a feel it coming on. She wonders if feeling headaches and vertigo coming on if it is normal.
@duckmama is up in Illinois. Rachel had a CT and a MRI after a hypoglycemia attack which showed a 3mm aneurysm in the ACoA (Anterior Communicating Artery). Rachel has had an angiogram and it’s too small to coil right now. Her aneurysm also has two nodes on it, so less than ideal. Rachel is also a toddler mom who travels a lot, loves dogs, music and gardening.
Welcome ladies! Follow @rosie and just start a new topic under either General or Support tab. Click on the Add New Topic button and type away. Tell us how we can help you out, otherwise we won’t know. If you find a topic you’re interested in and can support someone else jump right in! Just watch that the topics are within the last 6-9 months, older ones may not get a response and I will close them. If you run into troubles navigating this site just reach out to me (@Moltroub) or the fine folks who make up @ModSupport and one of us will reach back. Please remember we are all over the globe, so give us time. I’m usually on in the mornings and then I go do my chores etc. ModSupport folks do all the moderating support for the plethora of Ben’s Friends Rare Disease groups, they also have rare disease issues so give them time as well.
That’s it for this Sunday. I hope your week is full of hugs, laughter and love. Remember to breathe and keep hydrated. Definitely take time each day to see a positive.